At the Hands of a Hollow
by HellYus
Summary: Ichigo's hollow is gaining control slowly, and each night that he gets out, he makes a claim on a certain girl. Ichigo promises to stop this after finding out, but how will he react when a little more light is shed? Hichi/Ichi/Hime M for a rape-ish reason
1. Let the Games Begin

**Oh hai! I know this is no time to start a new story, but humour me please. I've read a lot of Hichi/Ichi/Hime fics recently and now I can't really help myself...I do promise to work hard with this though. Later on you will find the plot somewhat similar to a particular book/movie, but I'll reveal that when we get to it.~**

_**At the Hands of a Hollow**_

Chapter 1: Something is Coming

Ichigo kicked the snow at his feet. He was walking along the white path with no particular destination or intent.

Though it was freezing cold, he'd been bored enough to attempt a walk outside to find some form of activity, maybe even excitement. That thought brought him to the doubt that probably even hollows dislike snow.

It's appearance had been fair, it was January. Snow was basically expected at that point in the year. But he really hated having to walk in it, which made him feel stupid for going out in the first place.

The sun was only allowing a couple of rays of light past the clouds, so there was no chance of it melting right away. A deep scowl was set in his face until he passed a familiar face.

"Kurosaki-kun!"

His head turned immediately. Orihime was walking up a side path, waving a hand at him.

"Oh," he said, "hey Inoue."

"Walking in the snow?" she giggled in question, "I thought you hated it."

Ichigo rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, well, I got bored," he said, then looked at the bag she was carrying, "grocery shopping?"

Orihime nodded, "I thought it'd be a good idea to stock up, in case we get any more snow."

He suddenly felt unusually warm. Perhaps it was just her presence and the startling effects that it had on him. This was the one person who could make him smile, and laugh on several occasions.

"You're heading back home now, then?".

"Mm-hmm!" she replied, never stopping the nod, but slowing down a little.

"Do you want me to walk you back?"

Her hand came up again, wafting around as she blushed. "N-no, don't worry! I'll be just fine!" She tried a convincing smile.

"**Hah, well done, King! Denied again!**" his hollow barked.

'_Shut it, you._'

For just a few seconds, her studied her expression. He didn't want to make it seem like he was worrying too much, so he accepted the refusal.

"Okay, I'll see you on Monday then. Maybe, at least."

Orihime smiled gracefully, "I look forward to it." It was the kind of statement that didn't give away anything other than friendliness, and she was lucky that it didn't, for any reason, give away what she really meant. He was clueless.

She turned and started to walk back to her apartment. Ichigo had only just noticed her clothes, black leggings and a red mac coat complete with red rubber boots. He watched as she stepped closer and closer to a slippery patch of ice. Closer...closer...; "Eek!" she squealed and landed on the ground.

Ichigo was stood in front of her in a flash, holding out his hand. She hesitantly reached out and he pulled her up. "You really need to be careful, it's dangerous on the path."

"I'm sorry, Kurosaki-kun..." she murmured apologetically, her head down but her eyes sheepishly focused on him.

He sighed, "Alright, I'm walking you home for sure now, if you like it or not." - she opened her mouth to protest, - "I'm not taking no for an answer. You could fall again, maybe on the road this time. A car could come, or even a hollow. It's simply not safe." There was no need to tell her anything else. She walked obediently by his side.

Around two minutes later, they were quite close to their destination.

"Kurosaki-kun, I think I'll be okay from here..."

She waited. He continued to walk, not saying a single word. Ichigo did look at her, so complete ignorance wasn't suggested. Orihime looked defeated as she dropped her shoulders a little and followed him again.

It was another one-hundred and twenty seconds until they spoke again. They were just outside the apartment, waiting at the door.

"Th-thank you, for walking me," she smiled, almost blushing again.

"Any time," he muttered, rubbing his hands together desperately. He was regretting his decision to not wear gloves.

She watched him shiver with concern, "Are you okay?". He nodded, but he wasn't sure if it was true or not.

"Would you like to come inside for a little while?" she offered in a quiet voice, "I could make some coffee, then you can warm up for a bit before you go back out there."

Ichigo's heart was beating quickly, he had no idea if he wanted to or not. In truth, he was afraid of ever taking advantage of her hospitality, but he _really_ was cold.

"**Just say yes already, it's cold in here too**!"

He shook off the hollow's comment and tried to answer, "Uhm, sure, that'd be great."

Orihime's warm and gentle smiling eyes pierced through him again, the cold feeling was almost gone. "Come on in."

She unlocked the door and pushed it open, slipping inside before she let him in. He closed it behind him and took off his snowy shoes as she did her boots.

Then she walked around and into the kitchen, flicking on the coffee machine. "I-I'll be back in just a minute, my clothes are a little wet from the fall, I'm just going to go change."

He nodded, and sat at the table right near the kitchen area as she walked to her bedroom.

"**Oh, what are you thinking about now, King? Do you know that this is a great opportunity to take a peek at her?**"

'_You sick idiot, like I'm really gonna do that. Inoue is my friend._'

"**Are you really denying that you'd like to see much more of her? I know these things, I'm up in your head**," he laughed.

'_Just shut up, it's not happening. And you have no right to say things like that_,' he snarled back in his head.

Quicker than he'd expected, she emerged again only near fifty seconds later. This time she wore black tights and denim short-shorts, and a white one-shoulder top with a black vest underneath. She sent a smile and then moved back to the kitchen.

Ichigo was sat just at the right place to notice a rip in her tights, at the back where they had started to fade. Through the hole, just a patch of her smooth pale skin was showing.

"**Hey, King! Let me out, I'll go fix that for her!**" the hollow snickered.

'_There's no way that I'm ever letting you out, and especially not for that_.'

She poured the coffee and brought a mug over to him. "Thanks," he said, earning a light chuckle from her. Orihime sat down across from him and started sipping the hot liquid.

As he drank, warming up his body, he couldn't help but wonder why she wore tights and shorts. It was very cold, but then again, it was warm inside her apartment.

"Kurosaki-kun?"

"Yeah?"

Orihime put down her mug and tapped her fingers on the table, "I'm sorry to have to ask, but um...when is our assignment due?"

He thought about it and shrugged slightly, "Thursday, I think. Do you need some help?"

"Thank you," she said with a look of determination, "I just need to find something for the ending to my story. You see...the aliens have already come to the earth to take over Karakura town, but then a mysterious man in a hat comes along! He programmes a bunch of robots to defend..."

Ichigo wasn't sure if he was listening or not. The first part, definitely. But then his thoughts took him away, to the reminder that she had an outrageously, almost notoriously creative imagination. Though really, that was just another thing that he really liked about her.

She was something special, more than most people could comprehend or even see. People would notice her existence just because of her pretty face, her gorgeous long hair, or most commonly, the fact that she was rather well endowed. There really were few that knew her well enough to know her personality, too.

"...so after the mysterious man in a hat saves the world, what should he do? I'm really stuck, should he walk away with the pretty girl, or talk to the president and receive a reward? Do you have any ideas, Kurosaki-kun?" she asked.

He gave a rare smile, "You should have the mysterious man in a hat find the pretty girl and realize that he loves her, would that work for you?"

"Oh my gosh," she exclaimed loudly, "that's a really good idea! How did you come up with that?". Orihime jumped up and ran just a couple of metres away to the phone, noting down the idea on the paper kept for such 'important' things like that.

"Uh," he said, "I dunno, I think it's probably come from Yuzu telling me about romance books that she's read."

"**Wow, way to go, King! Now tell her you love her already, before I do it for you**!"

'_If you don't keep it closed, I'm going to come in there and choke you_!'

He finished his coffee and shifted upright in the seat, "Well, speaking of Yuzu, I told her that I'd help her with some homework, so I'd better get going now. Thanks a lot for the coffee."

She put down the pen and walked slowly over to the door, "Good-bye, Kurosaki-kun!"

"Bye," he said, slipping on his shoes. Then he began his long journey home.

–

"**I can't understand why you haven't made a move already, she's obviously waiting for us**."

Ichigo was walking upstairs to his room after helping Yuzu with her algebra work. The hollow had been talking and talking about Orihime ever since he'd left.

'_Why won't you just let it go?_'

"**Because I want her, King. It's only natural for me to want her the way I do**."

He sighed, '_And what exactly do you want from her?_'

"**I think you know**."

His eyes widened with the realization, and then a scowl appeared. A very angry, disturbed scowl. '_I don't care if you want that or not, I won't let you touch her_.'

The hollow snickered. Ichigo sat on his bed, threw his legs over and lay back. That was one of the things that he found he hated most about the hollow, his need to get what he wanted. And now, he was afraid that by some chance he might get it this time.

Ichigo stared at his ceiling. One of the worst parts about his hollow wanting to get to Inoue was the fear that it was something he wanted, somewhere deep down. But hurting her was the last thing he wanted, or so he thought...

It had all gone a little too far, and he knew it very well already.

He was in love with Orihime Inoue.

Not like the guys at school, who would take quick pictures on their phones and gawk at her as she skipped past in the corridor. He _loved_ her.

Thinking about that made him hate his hollow even more. The hollow was showing the part of him that he didn't want. Lust. They were opposites in many respects, though, so there was nothing he could do.

Knocking the word 'no' into his head wouldn't be easy, but ignoring him would never work. He could already feel him getting closer to control, very slowly. All he could do was build his defences, that was all he needed to do.

The hollow couldn't get past, he was sure. He'd been able to stop him before, and he'd trained to keep him under control.

Surely, he could keep the barrier there.

With all the thinking he'd done, he was getting tired. It was only somewhere around seven, but it was dark, it seemed acceptable to sleep for a little while.

He'd need it if he planned to protect her from the monster living in his head.

–

Orihime exhaled in an almost-sigh. She turned over the page of her book. Just a few more pages and she'd finish studying.

It seemed like a boring way to spend a Saturday, even if it was nearly nine. The sun had already hidden away for the night, leaving a dark and dimly lit street outside.

One part of the day had been a lot of fun for her though, even when she fell over. It was in the presence of Ichigo, how could she not enjoy it?

She hated herself for needing his help, even though he did offer. She'd felt her heart beating quicker than ever as she took his hand and he pulled her up.

She loved to be near him.

In all truth, for the past three years, she'd been completely in love with him.

Recently, hiding those feelings had been getting easier. He was opening up to her a little more, making them much closer friends. But there was always a part of her that wished for something a little more than friendship.

It was something she's never ask for, or never admit to anyone other than her closest friends, now excluding him.

It was something that must be kept a secret.

The way she loved him did nothing to prepare for what was standing at her window.

"Why, good evening my Hime," a dark, mocking voice whispered. Her head turned quickly and she stared. She stared for a long moment until she could piece the scene together.

"...I...Ichigo?"

"Not quite," he smirked, she could just about see his face. His skin looked pale in the moonlight, and his shihakusho was brighter. Perhaps too bright to be just to effect of the light.

And then his eyes. They proved for sure that this wasn't Ichigo.

They were evil and menacing, all black if not for the glowing yellow orbs in the middle. She inhaled with horror.

"Sh-Shiten Kōshun!" she choked, grabbing her hairpins and raising the shield. The hollow, now in full control, gave her an offended look.

He disappeared, flash-stepping around her. Then he tapped her shoulder from behind, "There's really no need for that."

Orihime screamed jumping forward and away from him. He laughed as he saw her slowly move around to the door, "Go ahead, run. That'll make it all more fun for me."

She only heard the word 'run'. Her legs took her as quickly as they could carry her away from him, out onto the street, even in the freezing cold. The lights scattered around were just enough for her to see where she was running.

But where was she going to run to? It would be useless to run with no destination. She had to hide from him, wherever she could find.

Of course, no matter where she went, he'd find her. She knew the nature of hollows already, and this one was a very advanced hollow. He was dangerous.

The flakes of snow that were falling melted against the warm tears streaming down her face.

As she ran, she realized. There was always a chance he was just teasing her, that he wouldn't do anything at all. But he'd caused Ichigo so much trouble, she couldn't think of anything good about him.

Her feet slipped on the ice as she ran in with no shoes, only the tights, but there was no time to fall. She needed to get away as fast as she could, it was hard to figure something out while running.

Orihime came to an enclosed area. If he was behind her, she'd be cornered.

"Hime..." the voice called, echoing through the cold.

_I need to find somewhere...quickly!_ The only building with a visible entrance was an old warehouse. The windows were smashed and it was almost empty, but it was the quickest option. She ran inside without looking back.

There were a few large empty crates stood in the corner, so she crouched down behind one and waited. She knew he'd come, and there'd be nothing she could do.

It was unclear to her what exactly he wanted, but it definitely wouldn't have been a good idea to wait around for an answer.

She continued to wait, until the door slammed shut. Orihime held her breath and closed her eyes. Perhaps it was just the wind. Perhaps.

"Oh hey, Orihime," he was suddenly next to her, sat down on the ground. She struggled away from him, but froze as he grabbed the bottom of her leg.

"Are you g-going to kill me?" she trembled, fresh tears replacing the ones that had dried on her cheeks.

The hollow smirked again, "No, I'm going to do something much more fun than that."

–

**Well I never thought I'd be writing something like this, really. And you know what's coming next? I'm dreading having the write that. But I'll try my best anyways...**

**I will point out that I know nothing about seasons in Japan, so I'm sticking with what I do know. Oh, and the hollow getting out will be explained in the next chapter. Don't worry.**

**I'm sorry that it happened quite quickly, but I really need to get the whole point out as fast as I can.**

**Have I ever told you before that reviews make me update quicker? XD Not joking either, they always speed up the process of my stories. So please, please, leave a review. I want to know what you think so I can decide if I should bother to continue or not.**

**~HellYus**


	2. Round One

_**At the Hands of a Hollow**_

Chapter 2: Round One

_Previously: There were a few large empty crates stood in the corner, so she crouched down behind one and waited. She knew he'd come, and there'd be nothing she could do. _

_It was unclear to her what exactly he wanted, but it definitely wouldn't have been a good idea to wait around for an answer._

_She continued to wait, until the door slammed shut. Orihime held her breath and closed her eyes. Perhaps it was just the wind. Perhaps._

"_Oh hey, Orihime," he was suddenly next to her, sat down on the ground. She struggled away from him, but froze as he grabbed the bottom of her leg._

"_Are you g-going to kill me?" she trembled, fresh tears replacing the ones that had dried on her cheeks._

_The hollow smirked again, "No, I'm going to do something much more fun than that."_

He pushed her down onto her back, not with unstoppable force but not gently. Orihime wriggled around, desperate to break free from her hold, but he held her arms back.

Before she thought to kick him away, he pushed her legs apart and moved into the space. There was nothing she could do.

"L-let...me go...please," she cried out trying to roll out of his grasp. One of his hands suddenly released her arm, but he pulled it over her chest and to the other so that one could still secure them both.

"I can't do that, of course!" he shook his head, "Besides, I need to do something about this. You're wearing too much clothing and I can't stand it."

His free hand suddenly ripped up her leg, exposing her skin from underneath the tights. He pulled the rest off piece by piece before doing the same to her other leg.

A devilish grin lit up his face as she screamed, still trying to break free. "Come on, Queen. Lighten up a little, I'm only playing a little."

He let go of her arms and very quickly grabbed her waist. He balanced himself on his knees and held her against him, ripping her shorts and throwing the remainders behind him.

Orihime was completely terrified. Her body shook all over and he shed her upper clothing, tearing it just like the rest and tossing the ruined fabric away.

She didn't dare to say anything else to him, it could make it worse. She only hoped he would just leave, and only leave. Her assumption was that he'd taken over, and the last thing she wanted was for Ichigo to wake up and find himself doing this to her.

Or...was Ichigo somehow behind this...?

No, she was sure he'd never do this. This was all the plan of the hollow. There was simply nothing else she could do, it was late at night and not many people lived around this area. If she screamed, he'd only be angry and then he'd never stop.

Now he lay her back down again, noticing that she'd stopped her struggling. She lay, almost perfectly still. The rapid beating of her heart was the only movement.

The hollow lay over her, held up by his arms. His face came down to her neck, which he lined with kisses. She flinched as he bit at her neck, leaving red marks on her skin.

Next he clawed at her bra, ripping the middle and pulling it away from her chest. His hands fondled her breasts underneath his neck as he went back to kissing hers.

She was careful not to move at any point as he got a little bored of her chest and moved one hand down to remove the rest of her underwear. He ripped the edge and tore them right off, laughing loudly as her eyes glistened in terror. It was clear what would be coming soon.

Orihime only wanted him to give up, she didn't care about any of her other problems. If this stopped before he did anything else, she'd never complain about anything again in her life.

But it was already too late. He'd removed his white shihakusho and was lay on top of her, kissing her soft but still lips. Even with his actions, she could feel the grin soon to be eternally plastered on his face.

The hand that had finished with the clothing moved down lower and lower, until he was touching the entrance. His cold fingers touched her and slid inside, feeling around.

She suddenly felt sick to her very core, he was making his decisions about the next action, though they both knew what it would be. The hollow picked up her legs and brought them up and around his back, tensing his muscles so that the limpness of her body wouldn't drag them back down.

He positioned himself, then thrust inside of her. She stopped breathing altogether, not even wincing through the sheer force of pain.

The hollow continued, and with each movement came more pain in the increasing speed. Seconds, moments, maybe even minutes passed. She wasn't sure if her respiration organs were working at all, because every time he entered, her heart slowed until it came to a halt.

When she felt that horrible feeling, she drew in her breath as quick as she could. He released himself inside of her. With all of her remaining strength, she screamed.

"_**Ichigo...!**_"

She hoped somebody heard. She hoped somebody got him off of her. She hoped the monster in which she'd lost her virginity to would leave and bring back her Ichigo.

Only one was even a little likely.

_Ichigo..._she wondered if he'd seen any of that. He could have been trapped inside, fighting for control. He would have saved her if he knew, she was sure. But she had no proof...

The hollow pulled out of her for the last time and grabbed at her legs. His large hands heavily thumped them as he kissed her again, leaving the marks that would soon be bruises. He was out of control as he lusted for her.

She could see it clearly, he was enjoying her pain. And her soundless tears and blank face made him laugh louder, enhancing the pleasure of the rape.

Orihime wondered how it had happened. She knew she wasn't strong enough to keep him off, but...why was he doing this? Where would he get the idea from?

How would she tell Ichigo what the monster living inside his head had done to her?

She'd always been afraid of him, and hated what he did to his 'host', but this was something she'd never anticipated. Though he'd already shown an unusual interest in her, this was now a bigger fear than the monster itself.

"See, I told you it'd be more fun than killing you..." he cackled, stroking her cheek.

Finally, he moved away from her, pulled on his shihakusho and vanished from her sight. Maybe he was still there, but she guessed that he'd already had his fun. Surely he didn't want anything else.

"Don't worry," his voice echoed through the room, "I'll come for you again soon, my Hime. Don't you dare forget it," - she twitched at the hollow's piercing laugh - "you belong to me now."

That was it, his spiritual energy disappeared to some place quite far away. But she wasn't sure if it was safe or not.

Orihime lay broken on the cold floor, afraid to move even a single muscle. The only sounds she could hear were the wind and the now irregular beating of her heart. Her anger whipped around her mind in a tornado.

She hated herself very much for letting it happen, but she would die in the most pathetic way possible if she didn't move. Her legs just didn't want her to go anywhere though, and she was sure that none of her clothes were wearable.

_Get up,_ she thought to herself, _just get up. You're ridiculous._

A laugh almost escaped her throat, but she just didn't have to energy to talk. It a took a good few minutes, but she did manage to pull herself up and find at least something to cover herself with. She saved the panties and black vest, fixing the broken straps by tying them together, just to hold long enough for her to get home.

It was still snowing outside, and freezing cold. Then again, so was the warehouse, but the warmth of another presence was missing now. But she was glad.

Time had flown by, and it was very late. Nobody was around, so nobody saw her running home in torn skimpy clothing.

As soon as she reached the apartment, she locked all of the doors and windows and closed the curtains. She didn't want to see anybody until she could shake the memory out of her mind, no matter how long it might take.

Orihime tore of the clothes like the others, throwing them in the trash. They were broken, but they reminded her again and again of what he did. She dressed in a short black nightdress. Originally, she'd hoped for white, as a symbol of purity. But white took her back to _him_.

She sat in the middle of the carpet and curled her arms and legs together. It wasn't like she planned to sleep, there was no way that she could anyway. This would leave her afraid of the dark for quite a while, as well as yellow things, warehouses, snow, books and...Ichigo.

He was still the one she loved, it would take much more to change that. But the hollow could do it again, he'd told her he would. As long as he was there, Ichigo was dangerous too.

It would obviously be difficult for her to get it into her system, she would have to avoid him somehow. She couldn't do anything about school, she'd have to see him there.

With the events of the night flashing back through her head, she never moved from the spot. All she did for the rest of the night was stare at the flickering light bulb above her.

–

Ichigo jumped up.

His eyes darted around the room. It was okay, he was safe. Though he had just fallen out of bed, and it kind of hurt. He rubbed his head and pulled himself up, sitting on the edge of the bed.

The clock on his desk beeped. It was the alarm, that could have triggered the awakening. The time read nine, he'd been asleep for a long time.

In reality, he hadn't even been tired when he fell asleep the night before. He hadn't woken up at any point, at least that he could remember. It was definitely true. _He_ hadn't woken up, somebody else had done it for him.

He stood up and turned, peeking through the curtains and out the window. The snow was still there, but he was glad to see that the paths outside his house had been cleared of ice. That must have happened earlier in the morning. It was a little surprising that he didn't hear anything.

Even though he'd set his alarm for this time, it was too late for breakfast. He'd just have to wait until lunch. There wasn't even anything he could do in the house, Sunday was Yuzu's cleaning day.

The only thing that came to mind was hollow slaughtering, and that sounded like fun. Ichigo was already in a bad mood from the snow, he could at least go and kill something just to vent.

Before thinking about anything else, he lay back down and pressed the combat pass to his chest, ejecting his soul from his body. He pushed the window open and leapt outside.

Cold air hit him as soon as he got out, reminding him how thin the fabric of his shihakusho was.

A sharp ache stiffened his legs, causing him to land at the nearest roof quickly. Mainly all of his muscles hurt, as if he'd just run for a whole day. He sat in an awkward position and tested the movement in his arms, hands and knees. There were no clues to why he felt so utterly tired.

Yesterday he'd barely done anything. He only finished his assignment and walked in the snow, that was it.

_Why the hell do I feel like this..._he stood up and walked slowly along the rooftop. His arm raised the shield the sun, and he turned back around.

Now he really didn't feel like being out, more sleep would be a better option. He jumped back inside and climbed back into his body.

On his desk he noticed his phone. It was a little unusual that it hadn't beeped yet. Orihime sent him a 'good morning' message both days, every weekend. There weren't any new messages, that would have woken him up before the alarm did.

He pondered about it for a while, but he guessed she was probably just sleeping a little longer than usual, though it was unlike her.

–

Orihime was still lay on her floor, staring blankly at nothing. During the night, every time she'd drifted off the same nightmare brought her right back to consciousness. A dream of the hollow.

The thought of him still made her shudder, and she couldn't escape.

So much evidence had been left, most of which she hadn't directly looked at. For example, the scars on her neck, and the bruises on her long, slender legs. But the worst parts came from the vivid memories.

Perhaps they would never go away, there was no way to tell. For now, she just felt disgusted, puny, pathetic and dirty. It felt literally as though her body was covered in filth.

When that conclusion came into her mind, she decided to do something. For the first time in many hours, in the long night, she picked herself up and balanced on her shaky legs.

She drew a bath, a hot bath. The cold would take her back to last night again, and it wasn't ideal in Winter anyway.

The water rose gradually until she felt there was enough, in which moment she hesitantly took of her clothes and stepped in. It felt like it would burn her skin, and she liked it.

Burning water was better than cold, lonely depression.

After standing for a while, she sat down, letting the water soak into her skin, wetting her hair and dipping her head under. Anything to feel good just for a second, at least. Even a second of happiness was better than several hours of self-loathing.

She remained in the bathtub for most of the day, only stepping out for one meal, all she would allow herself. Sometimes she did have to stand up and sit on the edge, just to let her water-wrinkled skin breathe for ten minutes.

When she got in again, for the last time, she was starting to feel tranquil, and at peace. It ended very quickly.

"Good afternoon, Queen," a familiar dark voice called. Her eyes widened and she felt herself slowly sink further and further into the water with every second.

The door handle turned slowly and opened. "I hope you didn't miss me too much," the monster with white skin and yellow eyes stepped inside.

–

**I'm going to leave it there! If I put the second rape-y scene in there right then, it would sort of defeat the point of the chapter name. ;)**

**I hope this was okay, I really hate the um...beginning scene. I died several times whilst writing it. I'm really sorry, it's just not good. I know nothing of writing things like that, or much of anything about things like that, to be honest.**

**But I hope this was okay...it's shorter than the last chapter but it really needed to end there. I've worked pretty hard to finish this for today, it's only nearly 10 pm but I've been here since about 6 this morning, with small Bleach breaks of course. ;P**

**Reviews help! Always, always, always~ So pleease, let me know what you think!**

**~HellYus**


	3. Her Pain

_**At the Hands of a Hollow**_

Chapter 3: Her Pain

_Previously: She remained in the bathtub for most of the day, only stepping out for one meal, all she would allow herself. Sometimes she did have to stand up and sit on the edge, just to let her water-wrinkled skin breathe for ten minutes._

_When she got in again, for the last time, she was starting to feel tranquil, and at peace. It ended very quickly._

"_Good afternoon, Queen," a familiar dark voice called. Her eyes widened and she felt herself slowly sink further and further into the water with every second._

_The door handle turned slowly and opened. "I hope you didn't miss me too much," the monster with white skin and yellow eyes stepped inside._

"H-how did you get in?" her voice cracked from fear and misuse. Her whole body shook and she covered herself up as best she could.

That same petty smirk lit his face, "Well I thought you'd be happy to see me, after what I did for you last night..."

Her conscience laughed. That was definitely not _for her_, it was all for his sick, twisted pleasure. New reasons for her hatred of him.

"No...I'm not..." she spat, turning her eyes away from him.

He knelt down at the bathtub, one elbow on the edge and the other outstretched as he touched her cheek. She moved her face away from his reach.

"Oh?" he spoke in the same teasing voice as before, "You think you can stop me?"

Orihime didn't answer as she turned her head fully away.

It snapped right back quickly as he grabbed her arm. "Don't think stupid things like that. You're mine!" The hollow slammed his fist on the surface of the tub.

She stared at him, terrified at his sudden outburst.

"I already claimed you, nobody else can take you away. I can do whatever I want with you..." he looked down.

After a couple of seconds his eyes shot back up, "You know exactly how I like to spend my time with you."

–

Again, he left her. She lay there in the now empty bathtub like an abandoned rag doll. Her arms and legs were bruised, more so than before, and lined with cuts.

It was different this time, she was covered in her own blood. He'd laughed at loud as he hurt her for his own amusement. He would always enjoy watching her pain, without fail.

Orihime just couldn't gather the strength to fight back, and she knew that if she did, she wouldn't be able to stop him. He'd definitely cleared that up for her earlier.

Now she couldn't move again, she didn't want to. Her body felt so heavy that she was sure she was dead, somehow. Maybe her soul just happened to be connected still.

Maybe a hollow would come and eat her, then she'd have nothing to worry about any more. But why would a hollow eat her? There were so many better options out there, souls who would run from them, give them a little 'fun' before their meal.

She hated to think like that.

If she couldn't save herself, it didn't mean she couldn't try to help the other souls. In fact, she felt like killing hollows more than anything right now. That wasn't her, not at all.

_She_ wasn't even herself now.

Her mind had been played with, messed up. She didn't know what to think about anything. She was confused, lost and lonely. But there was nobody there for her.

The thought kept on going around and around her head. If Sora was still here, she'd never know about hollows and she'd never have to face this. _He_ would never have cared to look at her.

That sickening, demented hollow. The only thing she feared. Everything else she'd ever ran from, she would welcome with open arms now.

Worst of all, he'd left with the same words. 'I'll be back for you again soon.' She expected no less, she was his new toy, and he wanted to play with her.

He'd broken in, despite the windows and doors being locked. She'd find out the explanation if she observed the apartment, probably. But that would mean moving.

As curious as she was, the temptation of finding the answer wasn't enough to will her out of the bathroom. She felt disgusted again, maybe enough to bathe until the next morning.

There was no way around it, really, she'd have to attend school. People would come and find her, she'd have to tell them what happened to her. And nobody would believe it.

Perhaps five people in school would partly understand, with the hollow at least. Five people that for that reason, she didn't want to talk to. Not until she had hope of this stopping.

She certainly did not at this moment.

These events would haunt her for a long time, if not forever. It seemed like a routine of pain and despair.

–

Orihime had spent the night cleaning the blood off her body. She'd also made an attempt to hide the bruises and scratches, but it had partly failed. They were everywhere.

Her uniform did cover her arms, and she always wore socks up to her thighs. It was no trouble during the main part of the day, but she had Gym class.

The little outfit would easily show the mess her had left on her.

Despite all of her efforts with the clothing situation, her eyes already gave it all away. Though she was determined to keep it to herself and tell nobody, not even Tatsuki, it was obvious that people would suspect.

Streaks of darkness rested under her eyes, due to missing two days of sleep. She wasn't worried about falling asleep, she'd just have to pay attention. Work would be good, anyway. It would distract her from him.

Not completely him, the noxious hollow.

She set out on her journey, the long walk to school. It was a little earlier than she'd usually set off. For once, there was no bounce in her step, so it could take longer. She was thoroughly drained, and the ice that still lightly covered the pavement was proving to be an obstacle, like always.

As she stomped carefully across the surface, she remembered how much easier it was when she was running. That first night, only two days before, when she was running away from him.

Her mind warned her and shook the thought away.

Eventually, she arrived at school. It was more or less the same time as usual. The few other students that were there stared and whispered, observing the damsel wearily trudging through the corridor.

Perhaps they could have overlooked it, if she was an ordinary girl. But that was one thing she definitely was not. They would stare in envy normally, now they blinked and watched with confusion.

_What do you think happened to her?_

_Maybe she has an abusive boyfriend._

_Who?_

_I don't know, I'm just suggesting a possibility._

_Well she could have tripped and fallen, you know how she is._

_I doubt it, look at her eyes. She must of witnessed something really awful._

Yes, she had witnessed something that she could never forget, because she was the victim, and she would remain the victim until the cause of her problems grew bored.

If he ever grew bored.

She tried to block out their quiet conversations, hurrying along as fast as she could go.

Orihime reached the classroom at what felt like a safe time, at normal time. It could be argued, though.

"Hime!" Chizuru squealed bounding over to the door, and suddenly stopping in her tracks. She skidded to a halt and pushed her glasses up to focus. "What happened to you?" her expression turned serious, fierce.

The questioned girl watched blankly at her reaction, "I-it's none of your concern," her voice was cold and unforgiving. Before Chizuru could say anything else, Orihime turned and walked to her seat.

Her eyes drifted out of the window, watching the students messing around in the snow, throwing ice and jumping all over the place. She watched a certain orange-haired classmate come through the gate, effortlessly dodging the pointed shards flying around his head.

She held her breath and prepared to shut herself away from him, as much as possible. As she waited for him to arrive inside, she thought more and more about the hollow.

One fact she hadn't anticipated was that he could watch her all day, planning what to do the following night. Ichigo would have no idea at all.

He stepped inside and blocked Keigo's welcome, greeting Mizuiro and moving over to his own chair. It was dangerously close to Orihime's.

She didn't greet him. Not with the usual wave and cheery welcoming. She barely looked at him as he faced her.

Ichigo watched her for the rest of the morning.

After the first three lessons, he was thinking about asking her what was going on. He couldn't see her face, she'd turned away for the whole time. He would know a little more as soon as he saw her properly.

The class was dismissed and they waited. Ichigo looked at her, planning to follow as soon as she stood.

Though she didn't plan to move until he did. She was going to wait for him to leave and exit quickly, and spend her break as far away from him as possible.

She couldn't sense his movement, her head turned just enough for her to catch him looking at her. As she saw his plan, she jumped up and escaped quickly.

Ichigo followed with a confused sigh, slow-paced and unsure where to go. It seemed like she didn't want to talk, in fact, he could see that she definitely didn't want to talk.

Not that he'd been looking, but he noticed a bruise on her leg, just between the gap of her skirt and her long socks. And he couldn't see it given the amount of time she turned for, but there was something different about her face. More than anything now, he wanted to know why.

Somebody snickered in his head.

_'What? What's funny?'_

The hollow roared with laughter, "**She hates you, King!**"

_'Maybe, she has the freedom to hate me if she wants. I don't care about that right now, do you have any idea what could be wrong with her?'_

"**...Why would you ask me?**"

_'You keep calling me stupid in a way that suggests you're smarter. What do you think?'_

There was a short silence. "**I think I have no idea.**"

He continued to walk, not daring to venture outside. There would be more idiots throwing ice around, or so he guessed. It was cold, staying somewhere indoors for fifteen minutes felt safer.

–

"Orihime!"

Ichigo called after her. It was the end of the day and he'd ran through half the school to catch up to her. Just like at break, she'd sure been in a hurry to get away from him.

She didn't turn. When she did last lesson, he saw it. He saw the marks on her face and how desperate she looked.

Orihime walked on, her already-fast pace getting quicker and quicker with every few steps. He was gaining on her.

Despite what she was doing, she'd feel really bad if she had to run. No matter what monster there may be beyond his human exterior, he was still Ichigo.

She shook her head at those thoughts and got back to the pavement. Now she started to consider sprinting back to her apartment. It could be risky on the ice, but she didn't want to talk to him.

Her walking stopped altogether. One foot lifted up, and she sprang forwards.

It only took a couple of steps for her to crash down onto the ground.

Nobody even looked at her, it was like she was invisible. They walked right past. Her heart was beating quickly, almost of much as it did when the hollow first made his visit. It slammed against her ribs as he called again.

"Orihime!"

Now, why didn't she just move? It was already too late, he was running up behind her. Ichigo knelt down at her side and placed one hand gently on her shoulder. "O-Orihime," he huffed, recovering from the running, "why...why did you ignore me? All day, what's wrong with you? How...did you get those scars and bruises?".

He'd briefly caught a glimpse of her during Gym. In fact, everybody had. Many rumours were born from that single hour with those uncovered secrets.

"Ichigo..." she whispered, straightening her legs, blushing at how close his face was to hers. "I...I can't..."

"What? What can't you-?"

"Answer."

He studied her face carefully, "What do you mean?"

"If I tell you..." she glanced up at his forehead by instinct, "...they'll know, and I'll be in trouble."

"Who cares," he shrugged, "I'm supposed to protect you. How can I do that if you won't tell me what's going on? Just tell me...why can't you say anything?"

One tear trickled down her cheek, "It's dangerous..._h-he's_ dangerous. It'll be better if I deal with it myself. And that's why..." more tears started to fall down her face, "...I can't talk to you until it's over."

Ichigo didn't say a word, he only helped her up and closed his eyes. He left without even a simple goodbye.

Orihime finished in her head, '_If it's ever over._'

–

**Boo!**

**I bet I scared you, right? I thought so...**

**So here's number 3! It took a little longer than I thought, I bought the The Hunger Games so I was a little pre-occupied with another obsession. Sorry, I'm trying to balance it. **

**Hoping for one or two more chapters before next Monday, shouldn't be too much of a problem. ^^**

**I'll have to point out, a review would REALLY help here. I'm unsure about the quality of the chapter, so I could do with your opinion, to help towards the next chapter. Please? ;)**

**~HellYus**


	4. Secret

_**At the Hands of a Hollow**_

Chapter 4: Secret

_Previously: "If I tell you..." she glanced up at his forehead by instinct, "...they'll know, and I'll be in trouble."_

"_Who cares," he shrugged, "I'm supposed to protect you. How can I do that if you won't tell me what's going on? Just tell me...why can't you say anything?"_

_One tear trickled down her cheek, "It's dangerous...h-he's dangerous. It'll be better if I deal with it myself. And that's why..." more tears started to fall down her face, "...I can't talk to you until it's over."_

_Ichigo didn't say a word, he only helped her up and closed his eyes. He left without even a simple goodbye. _

_Orihime finished in her head, 'If it's ever over.'_

He woke up with a headache.

It was Tuesday morning, the day after all of the complication with his 'friend', if he dared to call her that with consideration of his feelings for her.

Ichigo slammed the palm of his hand into his forehead as he sleepily rubbed his eyes, slamming the alarm clock off. Today was just another day, but he'd have to spend the whole thing, much like the previous night, mulling over ideas about what could of happened to her.

The whole thing was hard to imagine. He knew she didn't like fighting for herself, but wouldn't she protect herself if somebody hurt her? Or was this somebody...much too powerful?

If that was the case, he'd have to be even more frustrated that she wouldn't tell him anything.

Orihime was making it rather difficult, he thought. Or maybe he was just still a little insensitive to her feelings, just like always. He'd rather not think that though, almost everything he did was for her safety and well-being.

Just like any other friend, he protected her. That was all he really cared about.

Now he was practically going insane, desperate to get the information out of her. He wanted to kill whoever was doing this to her. Though, he didn't actually know what they were doing still. Maybe somebody with a knife, as he'd guessed from the scars. There were only ideas so far.

The bruises were more of a mystery, he couldn't imagine why somebody would harm her like that. But then, he didn't understand why she'd been hurt at all, not without the information he'd requested. Maybe it would be more clear when he found that out, if he could ever get it out of her.

There was no doubt, he'd have to get her to talk, somehow. It was far too important to just forget, he needed to know, and he needed to stop it. She didn't deserve to get hurt.

He rolled out of bed and slowly got dressed into the school's uniform. Today was going to be hard, no matter what. Especially since they would be getting some lectures today, with tests coming up. He was supposed to study last night, just a little extra time, but his mind had been taken.

Ichigo shuffled downstairs to eat breakfast and tried to forget, which he knew was an impossible task.

–

Orihime's eyes flickered open. She was in bed, she'd actually gotten some sleep. Not a lot, just a little.

A particular visitor had arrived in the early morning, the same visitor that had come both nights before. The hollow.

It hadn't been nearly as bad as before, he seemed to be a little on-edge. He did what he wanted quickly and disappeared in a hurry, she wasn't sure why. She was only glad that he chose not to make her suffer too much.

Judging by all three times that he came for her, he probably learned to take control during the time that Ichigo was sleeping. It made more sense than anything else she could come up with. So maybe Ichigo hadn't slept much that night, that could be why he wanted to finish and leave her as fast as possible.

Another sickening thought was that he still came even though it was a risk, and he wouldn't have much time. He wanted her every night, and he was _determined._

Then she thought, it didn't surprise her that Ichigo probably hadn't slept. She blamed herself for that, for not telling him. But it was dangerous to let him now, she didn't even want to think about what might happen if he found out.

Somewhere, she knew it was inevitable that somebody would tell him eventually.

Her, the hollow, or anybody else who she might have to let it out to. Nobody came to mind right away, though. If she told Tatsuki, she'd kill him. Rukia was at the Soul Society, but if she told her then it really was unthinkable what she might do. Something extreme, knowing her.

Orihime had tried to get back to reality, but it had been a bit of a struggle. School wasn't so bad, she'd managed to focus even with Ichigo staring at all he could see of her battered face. The worst part had been her arrival back home, where after a couple of minutes she'd gone to bed and cried into her pillow.

It was time to get up now, though. School would be starting in about thirty-five minutes.

She'd been glad to have slept, that was one thing she really needed. After she pulled herself up, she pushed back a strand of hair. Brushing along the surface, she noticed her face felt strange. Orihime wandered over to her mirror and looked carefully.

The corners of her eyes had collected tears, some streaks were drying on her face already. She'd had a dream, a _really_ good dream. Her favourite part about it was that the hollow didn't exist. It wasn't immediately clear to her why she was crying. It was must have been even better than she thought.

A little while later, with twenty minutes to spare, she set out the door on her way to school.

–

Ichigo found it hard to believe, that it was already Friday. The week had gone slowly, but now he'd reached the end it felt like it was flown by.

He was just walking home after another conversation with Orihime. Every time he had the opportunity, he would confront her again. Every time, she would tell him the same thing. To stay out of it. That, as it had been since he first saw her covered in injuries, was not something he planned to do at all.

For one good thing that Friday bought, exams were over. They had gone on since Tuesday, and Ichigo was feeling confident. He'd made sure to try harder than usual, because of his usual reasons when it came to grades, and because it was something he could do instead of stare at the back of a certain someone's head.

There still wasn't anything he could do, yet. He didn't really want to think about sitting outside her door all weekend, waiting for her to talk. But getting this problem solved was at the top of his mind, above school and everything else, maybe just a little above hollows.

He'd obviously have to do something, anything.

Nobody else seemed to care. They'd either been blown back by her harsh words about leaving her alone, or had chosen to leave her to her own personal life. That was what Uryu had chosen. He said to Ichigo, if she was in danger of dying, then let him know. It didn't seem to make any sense at first, but he'd started to think he was leaving apparently _little_ problems to her.

Maybe he thought it was just her being clumsy.

He was too smart for that, so maybe he just didn't know what to do, what to think. She wouldn't tell him if not Ichigo, so maybe he was just slowly going crazy. Ichigo didn't really care, but a little more help on getting her to answer him would be good.

Thinking about his crazy motives was too tiring. He prepared himself for an attack as he pushed open the door to his house, slowly, expecting his father to jump out. It was clear, almost. Karin was sitting at the table, flicking through the pages of a strange-looking green book.

"He's in the clinic," she said, not even looking up at him.

Ichigo nodded, not sure if she'd see it in the corner of her eye or not, and proceeded upstairs. The safest place for him to go was his bedroom, nobody bothered him too much there. Well, except for the one that lived in his head, he'd never leave him alone.

It would be an easy weekend, or so he thought. He didn't have to study or do any assignments, nothing too difficult or boring. But he wouldn't spend his time relaxing as usual, he'd have to seek out advice.

The idea had just sparked in his mind. If Orihime wouldn't tell him anything, he'd have to speak to somebody else about it. Maybe somebody spiritually aware, the cause of her problems could be anything, but something spiritual seemed likely considering they lived in _Karakura Town._

He threw down his bag and turned, running a hand through his hair. He didn't know what to do now. It didn't seem fair to go after Orihime again, not after he just cornered her at the end of school. Perhaps he could start to find answers another way, though.

Urahara was at the top of his mind. He'd probably have a way of finding what he needed to know, but perhaps he couldn't be trusted. As helpful as he'd been to Ichigo in the past, he was still a shady character. Once exiled from the Soul Society, after all.

But he was his best chance right now.

–

Orihime fell onto her bed.

She was exhausted. Today had been another day of hard work and silence. Even after five days, she'd managed to keep everything from Ichigo. It was important that she kept it up, but how long would it be before she had to tell him?

The hollow could hurt other people too, then she should. But he didn't seem interesting in killing anybody, just entertaining himself with her.

It still felt wrong to keep it from him, despite the fact that it probably was for his own good, no matter how much he might ask. She wondered why he was so desperate to know. She wondered why he'd always protected her, like he insisted on doing now.

What was she worth?

Nothing, she thought now. Not that there'd been any reasons in her mind before, but the last of her self-esteem had been vanquished. There wasn't really much of a reason to be alive, as she'd already thought. Though she still lived on through the pain, through the daily visits from the hollow, hoping that she could save lost souls from hollows, if not herself.

There were plenty of reasons for her to give up, but she decided to stay a little longer. It wouldn't be long before the hollow killed her anyway, he'd have to get bored eventually.

Maybe it would be a good idea to end all of the suffering, anyway. She didn't really want to live with herself after letting him trample all over her. She let him do what he wanted, because she knew that if she didn't, he would kill her. What was the point now?

Orihime pulled herself up and sighed, perching on the end of the bed. Her phone buzzed, turning her head to the night stand.

She got up and walked over, picking up the device. It read Ichigo's number.

_*beep*_

"Ichigo...?"

"_Orihime, please could you-"_

"I-Ichigo you know...you know already that I can't tell you. Why must you keep asking? One day, it...it might be the right time to tell you."

"_But Orihime...I need to help you. Whoever is doing this to you, I want to stop them. You shouldn't have to be treated like this."_

"I don't have anything else to say, s-so..."

_*beep*_

She felt immediately horrified. Did she just hang up on him? That was something she never would have dreamed of before this started.

He was so desperate to do this for her, she wasn't sure if she was happy or angry. But there probably wasn't much he could do when the one he wanted to save her from was a part of himself.

Orihime moved to the kitchen. Maybe she could find something to do, or anything she could do. After circling the apartment several times, she pulled out an old cookbook and decided to make something. Normal food, maybe. Since the first incident with the hollow she hadn't had bean paste on anything, partly because she hadn't eaten a lot either.

Pulling out the necessary ingredients for curry, she set to work. It was hard to have so many things going on in her little kitchen. There wasn't much space for anything, but she just about managed.

Some time later, she stared at the delicious meal. She wasn't sure if she should eat it or not, after working so hard on it. But it looked too good, too hard to resist.

She poked in her fork and pulled it up to her mouth. The spicy flavour hit her tongue and burned her throat. Possibly too spicy.

Several mouthfuls later, her stomach began to churn. She wondered if she even liked curry at all. And she doubted that she was hungry.

Wondering what to do, she shifted her weight across each foot, back and forth, until she ran to the bathroom. She emptied out all the curry she had eaten, including lunch and breakfast.

Breathing quickly for a moment, she got to her feet. When she'd cleaned herself up a little, she shoved the plate into the fridge and lay down on the sofa.

Just as she began to relax and feel comfortable, somebody knocked on the door. Now really wasn't the time for the hollow to make his appearance.

"Just a minute!" she called, hoisting herself up and walking over. He never knocked, and he rarely came in daylight.

As soon as the door opened, she felt herself wanting to close it again.

"Hey."

Ichigo leaned against the outer door frame, holding one hand up in greeting.

"Are you here to make me talk?"

"Not exactly, I'm here to be your friend. I'm just going to try to understand you," he smiled.

The corners of her mouth twitched upwards. He was going through a lot of trouble, she could see his viewpoint now.

"...Okay," she almost grinned back at him, acting more like herself again for the first time in quite a while, "come on in."

He followed her inside, sitting down on the couch next to her. In an attempt to avoid awkward silence, he tried to start a conversation right away.

"S-so...how well do you think you did on the tests?" he scratched his head, remembering that he actually wasn't very good at talking at all.

"Well..." Orihime pondered, "it could have gone better, but it was probably not too bad." She offered a warm smile. It really had been a long time since she could be herself.

He was turning her back into herself already. She'd owe him for that later.

"I doubt you'd have to use it, but if I don't pass I'm blaming the snow," he smirked.

"You think there's some chance that you won't pass?"

Ichigo tapped his head, "Hopefully _if_," he laughed. They were somehow able to continue like this for an hour, until the tension was freed.

Orihime covered her mouth, regaining herself after a moment of looking down at the floor. Whatever was left in her wanted to make another appearance. She tried to keep it down, swallowing and looking back up to him. He watched with confusion.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Then he looked at the scars and bruises again and thought about his question, of course she wasn't okay.

She watched his eyes on her arms, still scarred and considered her original choices. They still caused her pain, but she tried to ignore it. _He wanted to help her._ And he would stop at nothing. She went over and over in her head, wondering...if she should tell him.

"...Orihime?"

One tear rolled down her cheek, the warm liquid cut through the blush caused by his presence. More followed, from each eye, and she exhaled. "I don't know what to do."

His hand slowly came up and rested on her shoulder, "I'll help you then," his voice was gentle.

"I don't...I don't think there's anything you can do," she whimpered, shaking as his touch reached her mind. Whether she was breaking down or not, she wasn't sure what to say to him.

Ichigo took a deep breath. A few seconds passed before he pulled her into his chest, careful not to touch the marks on her arms. She cried more and more, settling only after he asked her again.

"Now, please, will you tell me what's going on?"

Orihime sat up back in her seat, nodding slowly. "I-I..."

He nodded, taking one of her hands and squeezing it in encouragement. It was finally happening.

She pretended the hollow wasn't listening, that would it make it much easier for her.

When she didn't say anything for a minute, he squeezed her hand again. "Since...since Saturday night, last week, I..." he nodded again.

"Whatever you're going to tell me," he promised, "it's fine. Don't worry, just let me sort this out."

"You won't be saying that once you hear it..."

"Why?"

She looked at him cautiously, and inhaled. "Because every day since Saturday night I've been raped by your hollow."

–

**Here it is! Next chapter's gonna be fun... xD**

**Sorry, it's a bad chapter, I know, really. I have today and tomorrow to write another one and then school starts again, so you can probably imagine that it's gonna be haard to write.**

**Oh ja, and please review! Reviews are much needed, or else something bad will happen! :3**

**~HellYus**


	5. A Revelation

_**At the Hands of a Hollow**_

Chapter 5: A Revelation

_Previously: When she didn't say anything for a minute, he squeezed her hand again. "Since...since Saturday night, last week, I..." he nodded again. _

"_Whatever you're going to tell me," he promised, "it's fine. Don't worry, just let me sort this out."_

"_You won't be saying that once you hear it..."_

"_Why?"_

_She looked at him cautiously, and inhaled. "Because every day since Saturday night I've been raped by your hollow."_

Orihime waited, staring into his frozen eyes.

For a moment, she wondered if he was in there at all. It had been nearly two minutes since she said her last words and he hadn't moved at all. His facial expression hadn't changed. Maybe his heart wasn't even beating.

She almost reached out to test that theory, but instead she put up on hand and waved in front of his face, slowly. Nothing seemed to be happening.

Now she wanted to be dead. She'd never longed for death more, in fact. Maybe the hollow would kill her now anyway. Everything that he'd been doing probably wouldn't be any fun for him any more if Ichigo was fighting back.

After a moment of waiting for a response, she sighed and focused clearly into his eyes. "Okay, hollow, you can kill me now." Her voice was soft and generous, yet full of guilt. Her glistening eyes waited more, longer and longer.

It looked as if the information just got into his system. Ichigo's eyes widened, pupils shrinking in his shock and overall size showing three times as much as his usual almost-squint did.

"W-What did you say?" he shuddered.

Through all of the possibilities, the ideas that had sparked in his head while trying to figure out the truth, the thought of _himself_, in most aspects, being the one to harm Orihime was unimaginable. He'd simply never dared to let it cross his mind, the hollow was usually under control. What had gone wrong?

She pulled her hand back and covered her mouth. "Excuse me for a moment..." she smiled, got up, and shuffled away in the direction he assumed was the bathroom. He didn't plan on asking about that.

'_So it was you all along...?_'

"**Yup. And what a time we had, King! It was selfish of me not to let you watch, really. She's a lot of fun**..."

'_...Are you really that sad?_' he asked, '_Is there nothing better that you can do? ...Or, do you get lonely up there?_'

"**Oh please! There's nothing more fun than watching your relationship with our Queen fall apart! Because at night, she's all mine.**"

'_Wow_.'

"**What**?"

'_I had no idea that you were really this much of a sadistic bastard_.'

"**You'll regret saying that. I'm at the last layer of the wall, one push and I can take over. The only difference about playing with her **_**now**_** is that you'd still be awake to watch**."

'_I won't let you touch her again_.'

It was harder to shout angrily in rage when speaking through your mind. The next time he took a trip to his inner world, he wouldn't hesitate to voice it much more loudly.

Right then he realized. The hollow physically injured her. He'd left those bruises and scars, and he had done...whatever it was that he did.

Ichigo didn't even want to think about that, and now he was threatening to have him watch it? He was determined that he'd never touch her again.

He pushed the voice of his hollow away and stared at the ground until she came back. Orihime sat down next to him, slowly and quietly. She didn't want him to freak out any more.

"Sorry," she apologized, "I-I'm not feeling exactly great today," her flushed face glowed. She was feeling a little warm and dizzy, partly because she had no idea what he might say to her next.

"...Saturday night," he mimicked.

She slowly nodded at him, quickening the up and down motion as his words started to make sense in her head. That was what she said to him, 'since Saturday night'.

"Y-you," he cleared his throat, "you were...raped?"

Her head bobbed again.

"...By...by my hollow?" his hoarse voice continued.

"Yes..." she looked away from him, down to the floor. Orihime knew she wouldn't enjoy watching this. He observed her cautiously.

"How could this happen...?" his head was down in his hands.

'_For years now...I've tried so hard to protect everybody. Even the people who don't need my protection. You were part of the power I used to do that, so why? Why do you have to do this to the one person that I really wanted to protect, whether she needed my protection or not? You've been the only thing to worry about all along_.'

A twisted laugh echoed in his head.

The stream of tears started trickling their way down her cheek and his head shot up as he heard her. Now her own face was blocked by her hands as she leaned over to hand her head. Strands of hair were the curtains sealing her away.

"Orihime..." he said. She didn't answer to him. Hesitantly but calmly, his hand reached her shoulder and landed. "I'm so sorry."

For a moment she didn't look, but once the flow of salty liquid had died down, she tilted her head and looked at him.

"It's not your fault," she whispered,

Despite all of her arguments with her heart, all the time she had spent ignoring him, she knew it was true. Though originally he had just seemed to be a danger, he really didn't play a part in this. The only real thing was that it was his hollow that was causing all of the trouble.

She doubted he'd had any idea whatsoever. She certainly didn't think he could have thought of it throughout his guessing games concerning what had happened to her. It was simply unthinkable, and she still didn't want to think _of_ it, or believe it, herself.

"Next time I'll stop him," he said calmly, "I won't let him touch you again."

Her big bright eyes glistened, pointing in his direction. "Please..." she whimpered, "please promise me that.

Ichigo could see how scared she was, though it wasn't the first time he had done that to her with the hollow. He remembered how he had frightened her in Hueco Mundo during his third and final fight against Grimmjow, where she had seen his mask for this first time. The worry in her eyes that battle still haunted him.

"I promise," he vowed, gently taking one of her hands and holding it in one of his. Orihime was surprised now. His original reaction was just about as she had expected, but now it had changed a lot. She had forgotten that he could be very level-headed when it came to protecting people. He probably knew shouting about it here would do no good to anybody.

The corners of his mouth twitched and curved slightly as she inhaled again and nodded.

Both of them stood up quietly, Ichigo preparing to leave. It would be safer to leave now, before anything else happened. Anything that he would regret.

"I guess I can leave you alone now," he said, "and I'm sorry. If I had known, or had any idea, what this was I wouldn't have tried so hard to get it out of you."

He turned, but was caught in a long, scarred pair of arms. "Thank you," she whispered. Orihime had wrapped herself around him, trembling from being nervous. But it was not like there was anything else to hug, he was the only choice.

Now his mouth really did form a smile, and he lifted one arm up and around her. "I'll see you later maybe." She said goodbye and he left quickly.

There was a very specific location in which he was now headed. He had lied in a sense when he raised the possibility of seeing her again later in the day. He didn't want to let himself see her too often, at least not until the situation was under control.

The hollow hadn't been lying, he was right there in his mind. Nearing control again, at the top of the ladder. Now Ichigo had to handle that, and he knew an experienced group of people to help him with that.

–

It was ten in the evening. Orihime had just had a realization as she turned of her light and snuggled deep into the covers of her bed. She probably wouldn't have to worry about her daily visitor every again, it could all be over soon.

She hoped the scars and bruises would heal quickly, they raised too many questions. When she returned to school on Monday, it was inevitable that people would ask again. But at least they wouldn't be any worse. Probably.

Of course, there was always a chance that he could come again. She didn't really know what Ichigo was planning to do, seeing as it was already clear that the hollow escaped during the time he slept. It wasn't like he could just stop sleeping.

So now all she could hope was that Ichigo was fighting him. No, not fighting. _Sustaining his control_. There was still a deadly percentage of chance that he could show up to make his claim on her again, and that was something she most definitely did not want.

After many nights of shame and guilt, she could finally be comfortable and relax. She'd placed all of her trust in him, just like always. The weight had been lifted off her shoulders, it definitely wasn't a mistake to tell him. He would help her, and stop her torture. But she was angry at him for it.

Because whenever he was nice to her, she was reminded that she loved him, and he had no idea.

Telling him about _that_ wasn't and would never be the solution to that particular problem of hers. In fact, it would make it all worse. Besides, after keeping it from him for so long she'd just have to learn to put up with it. There'd be plenty of time to adjust in her lonely life.

She wasn't sure just how tired she was, so far there had been no life-draining activities going on. Still, she felt strangely exhausted from just the anxiety that had gripped her just after she told him. That was why she had felt the need to strip down to her underwear and dive into bed to sleep peacefully without a worry.

Somewhere, she was very confident that the hollow wouldn't be showing up.

–

Several days passed and it became Tuesday. Ichigo hadn't gone to school for the past two days, busy with some training he'd given little information to anyone about.

"You're gonna have to keep up, lover boy!" Hiyori Sarugaki screeched, swinging her zanpakuto at him. When Ichigo had showed up at the Visored's warehouse requesting help, not giving too many details about what his hollow had been doing, she had laughed right away and declared that he was in love with Orihime.

Embarrassed, he immediately rebuked the comment, _as if_ they didn't know it was true. It was clear beyond his own eyes that they were very aware.

"I told you to quit calling me that!" he shouted back at her, shunpo'd away from her reach and glared angrily from a safer distance.

"Yeah, and I told you to quit running away! I'm the one giving up my time to help you here, so be grateful! Fight back!" she screamed.

He huffed and charged at her, coming close as their swords collided. "It's not running away, it's dodging! I'd be dead by now if-". She pushed him away and into a rock, where a cloud of dust appeared at his contact.

"You're not gonna learn anything about fighting holllow powers if ya don't shut up with your arguing and do as you're told."

"Me?" he snapped, "You started it!" he rubbed the back of his head, which had taken the force of the blow against the rock.

Hiyori ignored him, pulling on her hollow mask and running towards him. Her sword stabbed the air in front of him, "If you're so intent on helping your girlfriend, then I suggest you _do_ keep it shut and listen to what I'm telling you," she stared at him unenthusiastically.

He tried to keep quiet for a least a little while after, but it didn't last too long. After realizing how long he had been training, the complaints came in.

"How much longer do I have to do this for, anyway?"

"Just a few more hours!"

Ichigo counted in his head for a moment. "Well you said three days, it's been three days already!"

"Not exactly seventy-two hours. You still have a few more to go."

"What?" he shouted, "When a normal person says three days, they don't mean _exactly_ three days!"

"Let him go, Hiyori."

Both of them swung their heads around and looked up in the direction which the voice had come from. A familiar figure strolled down the steps and into the underground training area.

"Shinji." Ichigo muttered.

Pulling up his hat to reveal his face, Shinji grinned. "I'm letting you go, and you still greet me like that?"

"He's not going anywhere! He's not finished yet!"

"Hiyori, do you really think a few more hours will make any difference?"

Ichigo straightened his pose and dusted the dirt from his shihakusho. "No, it won't," he answered for her, "I'm strong enough now. Thanks a lot for the help, but I _am _going now."

She crossed her arms and walked away with a sigh.

–

Orihime folded her fingers around the edge of the metal frame. '_One...two...three_.' She lifted her heavy mirror and waddled along to the bathroom.

She had just gotten some new glass put in. This mirror was somewhat sentimental, it reminded her of Sora. Unfortunately, the hollow had broken it during his antics one night. Though the hollow hadn't shown up at all since she spoke with Ichigo, but neither did he.

He had only really quickly told her that he would do some training, for as long as it took to be able to fight off the hollow successfully.

Since no new marks had been laid down on her skin, parts of her were starting to heal. Bruises were fading and scars were scabbing, but the ache in her stomach remained. Her evidence was becoming less visible, proven by Chad.

She'd had to ask him to help her carry the mirror back. The store refused to bring it back as they had collected it. Snow had made another appearance since then.

Chad had only asked once about what was happening to her, and never pushed any further. It was as if he somehow understand, which she guessed was why he had agreed to help her with the mirror.

Now, as she was hauling it from the entrance into the bathroom, where it was fastened to a wall, he had left about five minutes before. She had insisted that he stay for coffee, to pay him back, which he did and said farewell as fast as possible. He didn't want to outstay his welcome.

In the short time that he'd been gone, she changed into a pair of grey shorts and a simple white long-sleeved shirt. She was more comfortable like that, rather than the tight jacket and jeans that she wore before.

As she carried the mirror through, she was quickly exhausted from the weight of it. Or maybe it was because she'd gone into town, and anything could make her tired. That was just one thing she'd noticed recently that was strange.

Another factor was her nausea. It occurred quite a lot during just a few days, maybe the curry had triggered it. She wasn't sure.

Also, she'd been having a strange variety of dreams. Death, pain, happiness, Ichigo, snow and the hollow. They'd all come up at some point. However most made it through as nightmares, rather than dreams.

Many things had brought on tears, too. Not just her dreams, but movies she saw on her little TV. Movies that she'd never once cried at before. It seemed scarily real to her. She came to realize just how many strange things had been happening, beyond getting raped by a hollow.

No ideas on what else could be going on came to her mind with ease. In fact there was just nothing to explain, or at least almost nothing. There was a slim possibility of...no.

She didn't let herself think. But it made her a little curious, and filled with terror.

As she slid the mirror back into it's bracket on the wall, she looked carefully. Taking a few steps back, she examined her abdomen.

"No..." she whispered slowly, gently prodding at her flat stomach. It was one of those moments where your life flashes before your eyes, and you just can't believe what's happening.

Turning to look at a different angle, her heart stopped. Her stomach wasn't flat at all, there was a bulge. And this bulge only meant one thing.

–

**Yeah, like you didn't see that coming? XD**

**I won't say too much here, I've gotta goo! Soo I hope you enjoyed! I finally got my lazy ass back into action after recovering from a week of school!**

**Review. Please. I really need to know what you think! :D**

**~HellYus**


	6. It Gets Worse

_**At the Hands of a Hollow**_

Chapter 6: It Gets Worse

_Previously: No ideas on what else could be going on came to her mind with ease. In fact there was just nothing to explain, or at least almost nothing. There was a slim possibility of...no._

_She didn't let herself think. But it made her a little curious, and filled with terror._

_As she slid the mirror back into it's bracket on the wall, she looked carefully. Taking a few steps back, she examined her abdomen. _

"_No..." she whispered slowly, gently prodding at her flat stomach. It was one of those moments where your life flashes before your eyes, and you just can't believe what's happening._

_Turning to look at a different angle, her heart stopped. Her stomach wasn't flat at all, there was a bulge. And this bulge only meant one thing._

During the moments that she stared into the mirror, somebody backed up her theory. A flutter of life flickered inside of her. Orihime fell back against the sink, grabbing on tightly to a towel rack and the toilet for support. Her knees were shaking and the picked-up pace of her heartbeat rapidly increasing. It threatened to escape from her chest.

A lot of the past events had sewn together, forming an inescapable fact. She was pregnant. She was sure, at this moment, that out of all the possible things that could have sprouted from her troubles, this was the worse possible thing. Worse than death.

Now she was gasping for air, as if she struggled to find it. There was no shortage in the room, but her organs seemed to need a little extra oxygen to keep her going, because there was almost nothing left in the world that gave her a reason to live.

Ichigo was the only thing. And now this had happened, he'd never come near her again. She'd be like so many other girls her age, who made a bad choice. Who did something stupid. Or maybe even some like her. Raped.

But she could confidently doubt that there were any hollows involved with those girls.

How could she go to school tomorrow? There was no way that she could act like there was nothing wrong now, because far too much _had_ gone wrong. How would she ever explain this to even herself? Most importantly...how could she ever tell Ichigo?

Telling him about the raping was hard enough in the first place. Had she ever anticipated this, she wouldn't just come out with that quickly and hope the next piece of news was made easier through that. That definitely wouldn't work here.

What could she do now?

Was a part of her expecting herself to hold her head high and get herself through this? No, because this was one of the most unexpected things that had ever happened. She was raped, with no contraception used, it was more than obvious that it could easily lead to pregnancy. But how was she supposed to expect it when it was a hollow that had raped her?

She'd never imagined it could be possible, a human having a baby with a hollow. It had probably never happened before. Humans couldn't see hollows, and all the average hollow cares about it devouring souls. Not sex.

With that in mind, she was well aware that it wasn't an average hollow that had raped her. It was Ichigo's inner hollow, escaped from the confinement of his his inner _world. _So what did it mean? Nothing was making any sense to her, and the weight of her thoughts was too much to bare.

She shifted one foot and slipped, landing in the empty bathtub. Not planning to move, she relaxed her tense muscles and spread out as she lay there, wondering what to do.

After going over and over her thoughts again, with her head in a safe place, where it couldn't drag her down, she decided to try something. One trembling hand rose and landed on her stomach, resting on the bump. Her breathing was quiet, but fast. Every few seconds she'd have to remind herself to keep breathing.

Her other hand pulled up the material of her shirt, revealing the bare skin. Several scars still curved around the bump, not as small as she thought it was.

It was actually pretty big, and she wondered what was going on inside. Deciding not to confuse herself any further was thoughts of the length of time since the first night she was raped, she imagined the being inside of her.

No matter how it had come to be, there was something that made her more suspicious. Was this...baby, as she currently guessed, fathered by the love of her life, or the inhumane monster that she couldn't seem to escape from?

It was true that it was the hollow who had raped her, but she couldn't figure out several things about his taking over control. She wasn't sure if it would still be Ichigo's body or not, a question in which the details made her blush and shudder.

She forced her mind away from that area and thought back to the movement inside of her just a few minutes ago. It was strange, definitely. Maybe it was just some recently-developed maternal feeling, but she enjoyed it. She enjoyed the frightening contact with whatever it was that was growing in there.

Pleasure had just become her worst enemy.

–

Ichigo groaned and rolled over in his bed. The alarm clock was ringing, it was time to get up.

That was the last thing he wanted after going _almost three days_ without sleep, but he had to return to school today. It was Wednesday, not half as bad as Monday. But it was bad enough. There was nothing enjoyable about school...

Then he remembered, it wouldn't be like last week. Orihime had opened up to him and revealed her secret, finally. He'd tortured himself over it and now half of the problem had been solved. He was confident that his powers could keep the hollow off, out of control.

Still, he really hoped he hadn't gotten out while he was sleeping. But he'd made sure to be careful about that. At least he now knew he could keep him in while awake.

As he had a quick breakfast, dressed and gathered his bag, he couldn't help but think of Orihime. She would finally be relieved of so much stress and confusion, and he was glad to do that for her. Now he wanted to see her, and watch her scars disappear. He wanted a normal day at school, so that he could he could watch her bounce back and become her normal self again. She was one of the people that made school bearable.

There would sometimes be moments where she would catch him looking at her, and they'd briefly be looking in each others eyes. Then she'd smile and turn away quickly. He thought that was adorable, and he'd never imagined that he'd ever use that adjective for anything.

Heading out the door, he travelled quickly to school. There was more snow, it had come in the previous week. He stumbled through it due to the layers of ice that still rested underneath in some patches. This reminded him of her again.

It seemed he couldn't escape the thoughts, he urged to see her even more. His pace picked up a little, though it was already fast, and he arrived at his classroom in several minutes. He was disappointed.

Her seat was empty.

The most unusual part here was that she almost always arrived before him. Even with all of the hollow stuff, he'd been greeted with at least a quick glance and then the side of her head. Today there was nothing at all.

His classmates silently watched as he stood still, frozen, for a moment at the door. When he snapped out of it, he shook it off and proceeded to his seat quietly. They ignored him for the majority of the day after that.

For the rest of the day, his attention lurked at the doorway. He was mainly oblivious to the lessons as he waited for her to come in. Even during breaks, he would stay in there and watch the door. Why hadn't she come through yet? Orihime never missed school without telling anybody anything about it.

What could have happened to her that was worse than getting raped by a hollow? Probably nothing, he thought, she'd still come to school even after that.

Fed up of wondering about it, he slammed his face into his arms, folded on the surface of the desk, and tilted his view to the space in the wall. The space that the girl he loved was supposed to come though.

–

She woke up in the bath tub, the same place she'd been all night, and all day so far. Noticing the time on the clock that hung nearly above the toilet, she sighed.

_Maybe I could have tried to make it to school..._

Then she shivered, and remembered what had happened before she fell asleep. One hand was resting there, on her stomach. It curved over the swollen bump.

Her chest started to rise and fall quickly as her breathing picked up with speed. Sleeping had been pleasant, she wasn't thinking about this. It had slipped out of her mind completely, a truth forbidden in the land of happiness that was her imagination.

Now she was certain, given the darkest parts of the dreams she had experienced during her sleep. She was carrying some kind of demon child.

He lay within the images. She remembered dreaming a tree, a representation of herself. It was sunny and bright, like a storybook page. There was even a hole in the tree, the kind that infants had been caused to believe owls resided in. But in her dream, there was no owl. Only a pair of yellow eyes staring out from inside the tree.

As these thoughts came back, she slowed her breathing again and gulped. What should she do now? It truly _was _a monster, like the other half responsible for it's creation. Would it even be partly human? All human? No, she was sure it was just a hollow.

Then it had to be destroyed?

Orihime toyed with this idea for a moment, and tried to forget it. She was unsure of what exactly she could do. There was no longer any doubt that it wasn't at least half hollow. It was dangerous, still. But could she get rid of it?

Just like always, she doubted herself. There was no way she could do it. Perhaps...if she had the intention of taking herself out along with it. Whatever it was, it would be an abomination, it would upset the balance of souls living and dead.

So it had to be taken away, no matter who went with it. She repeated that in her mind several times as she slowly collected her long, slender legs and pulled her shaking body up to her feet. Hands falling away from her abdomen, she moved to the kitchen and pulled open a drawer.

Choosing a sharp knife from the collection of cutlery, she slammed it shut again and stood back a little. Her hands quivered violently as she pointed it at the stomach.

Another flutter of movement kicked about inside of her. A quiet, innocent voice whispered in her head. _Please._

The cool steel blade of the knife clattered against the ground is it dropped down. Orihime felt a steady tear roll down her cheek.

Whatever had just happened, she didn't want to think of killing anybody any more. Not even the monster child. Was it his voice she had heard? That was unclear but likely. Though, how could she do anything now?

If it feared, it couldn't be full hollow. What did a hollow have to fear? The voice didn't belong to the ravenous devil spawn she had pictured, there was something of a human included. It was _her child_. Not just the hollow's, _part hers_.

That was the next line to bounce around the head that seemed empty of other things. Instead of picking up the knife and continuing, she wrapped her arms around herself and sunk down onto her knees, right in the middle of the kitchen floor.

She felt as if there was no monster left to kill.

–

It was later in the day when she left the apartment.

She'd found a disguise; clothes she was unlikely to wear on a normal day. Nobody could see her as she carried out this important mission.

There were two people in particular that she wanted to avoid, Ichigo and his hollow. There'd be nothing she could do if she ran into either of them, which seemed unlikely given her destination. Urahara Shop.

Though she was now positive of her pregnancy, she wanted to check it for sure. And throughout the whole town, there was nobody who knew more about hollows than Kisuke. Or so she imagined. There were very few spiritually aware beings other than herself and Ichigo.

Unfortunately, she would have to explain the events of the past nights. She'd hoped to keep quiet from everybody else, but then she'd realized that there was a baby involved.

It still felt weird for her to think like that, growing a baby. But it was still almost definitely true, and while she still wasn't exactly thrilled, she felt happy to some extent. There were some new motherly instincts mixed in there, though.

When she reached the door, she didn't regret coming. It was important that she found out if it was possible, a human-hollow hybrid.

The door slid open and the man in the hat appeared, waving a hand-fan in front of his face. "Good evening, Inoue-san."

"U-Urahara-san? You knew I was coming?" she was startled by his sudden appearance.

"Indeed," he nodded, "I sensed your spiritual pressure coming this way. Now, is there anything I can help you with?"

She thought carefully about her words. "...I was hoping to ask a question, a very important one. I'm very sorry to burden you with it, but it's necessary that I know."

"Yes?"

"Well, I must first quickly ask, you...you know about the nature of hollows, don't you?"

"I do," he said firmly.

"Then I think...I came to the right place with a problem like this."

–

**Very short chapter, don't kill me please!**

**Things have been a little slow in terms of inspiration, so I do apologise for that. But I'm glad that this chapter was finally finished, and I promise to make the next extra-lengthy. **

**Oh, and I've had to deal with a litter of kittens for the past 6 weeks. So I've been busy for good reasons (or not, one out of three died a little after birth and one of them is now leaving us I think...) and I hope you'll forgive me for that, too!**

**Not a great chapter...I'm sorry. But hopefully questions will be answered next time, so until then...**

**reviews please! :) Let me know what you think'll happen, and what you thought of the content of this chapter!**

**~HellYus**


	7. Forced to Admit

_**At the Hands of a Hollow**_

Chapter 7: Forced to Admit

_Previously: The door slid open and the man in the hat appeared, waving a hand-fan in front of his face. "Good evening, Inoue-san."_

"_U-Urahara-san? You knew I was coming?" she was startled by his sudden appearance._

"_Indeed," he nodded, "I sensed your spiritual pressure coming this way. Now, is there anything I can help you with?"_

_She thought carefully about her words. "...I was hoping to ask a question, a very important one. I'm very sorry to burden you with it, but it's necessary that I know."_

"_Yes?"_

"_Well, I must first quickly ask, you...you know about the nature of hollows, don't you?"_

"_I do," he said firmly._

"_Then I think...I came to the right place with a problem like this."_

Urahara paused, "Perhaps we should talk inside," he offered, reading the desperation in her voice. She nodded slowly and followed him through the door and delicately placed herself at the opposite side of the table in which they were sitting.

"Again," she whispered, "I'm sorry to have to ask you this, but I can't think of anybody else who could know something..."

"Please, don't worry," he showed a smile, "I'm happy to help if it's needed."

Yoruichi strolled in wearing her black fur and sat close to them. Orihime shot a quick smile to show her acknowledgement of her presence.

"Well..." she breathed, "I'm not sure if you're aware...that Ichigo has been training recently. Because I let him know...about...half of this, he was trying to help me. But since then, I've found out a little more information. Now I think, that this is the only place where I can find an answer."

Kisuke nodded and watched her speak intently.

"I asked you...about the nature of hollows. It's an embarrassing subject really...but, have you ever heard...of a hollow taking a strange sort of...interest, in a human?". He looked confused for a moment, "By that I mean...wanting something other than to eat their soul," she explained herself, blushing brightly.

Taking the hint, his eyebrows raised and he glanced over at Yoruichi. "Uhm, well," he scratched his head, eyes flickering back over to her, "is this related...to Ichigo's hollow?"

"...D-does it change the answer?"

"A great deal so, yes," he looked sure of himself for a moment, but his confidence seemed to wipe quickly off his face.

Orihime shifted uncomfortably, "Then...yes, I mean that hollow."

Knowing the man she was talking to was smart enough to get this quickly, she wondered how much more she'd have to say. Talking about the situation hadn't proved to be fun the first time, and it wasn't changing now. She held her breath and waited for him to answer.

"I can't say I have heard anything. Though of course...I'm not an expert on those kinds of hollows, but no, I don't believe I have anything else to put into an answer. But considering what you have said, and how you have said it, perhaps it would be best to explain a little more. That would increase the chance of my being able to help you."

She slowly nodded. "Maybe it would have been a little clearer if I had tried to say or imply it in the beginning...I'm sorry. I've only ever said this once...and it's hard to find the right words."

There was another pause. Yoruichi carefully slipped in her offer, "Would it be any easier if you spoke to me alone?"

Orihime wasn't sure how she had picked it up so easily, looking at her face now, it hadn't changed. Though she looked like a cat, her yellows eyes were bright with intelligence that _she _could never hope to obtain.

After a brave however short nod, Kisuke left without a word. She was glad they understood her, and how hard it was for her to explain. "So..." she whispered, as Yoruichi glared over at her.

"I have to ask..." her tone was extremely serious and slightly interrogating, "is whatever you want to ask about going to put anybody in danger?"

The girl flinched in a quick, violent motion. Of course it could be dangerous, but she wasn't completely sure. The hollow only seemed to want to mess with her head and 'enjoy himself', whereas whatever was growing inside of her, due to his actions, could be a merciless murderer given it's sire's nature. "Maybe..." was all she could say.

"Orihime," the cat's eyes closed, "the only thing I can really ask is; do you regret coming here to ask about it, however awkward it may be for you?".

"No matter what information I can get here, it will help, I'm sure, and I do not regret it. This will definitely present itself in an uncontrollable way if I cannot learn now."

Yoruichi's eyes flashed open again, "I'm sorry, but it's definitely urgent if that's the case. If anything at all happens to the humans, or yourself, I won't be able to forgive myself, not if we can't help you before that time comes. So please, explain everything to me, and I will do what I can to prevent whatever catastrophic events you think will leave your problems if unsolved."

Again, she nodded, and took a deep breath. "I mentioned Ichigo's hollow earlier, he's the source of this really. The only thing I can guess is that he decided to try sneaking out as Ichigo slept. I think, the first time he did that was the night of the incident. It was...two weeks ago, on Saturday. H-he...well...this is the part that's hard to say...ack. I should just say it...he...the hollow...raped me..." - now the cat's eyes burned with curiosity - "...and has done again many nights since then."

"I see...but I'm not sure what you mean by this."

"Uhm...well, he said he'd do it again...which...he did, basically. Ichigo knew something was wrong, but he had no idea about his hollow, and how he took over every night. He kept asking and asking, and I told him last Saturday. The Visoreds helped him, they trained him. He practised fighting with them for three days, and the hollow hasn't come back since then. I know now that he's strong enough to stop him."

There was yet again, a pause. "What else is there to the story?"

"...How...did you know, that there was something else?"

"Orihime, I know you wouldn't come here asking for help with a solved problem. That makes no sense, and also, how will the events of that be uncontrollable? It sounds perfectly in-control to me."

"Yes...that part is fine now...but you guessed right, there's something else. This...I think, is even worse than the rest of it. Definitely, yes. I'm starting to think now that those seven days in which I could never speak of the hollow went by too quickly, and...well...somebody else was involuntarily brought into this equation. And I don't know how innocent they might be, it's hard to tell right now."

"You need to be a little clearer," her eyes scanned Orihime, "or else I'll get the wrong idea, and that will end badly, no doubt."

"W-well this is harder than the other thing! Now it's not like that...it's this..." she whispered, one hand coming up to rest on the evidence, her swollen stomach. Surely, if Yoruichi was in human form, her shock would be much more visible.

"Are you sure...that could be possible?"

"No, not at all..." she blinked, eyes falling to the floor, "...I wanted to see if you or Urahara-san had ever heard of something...like this..."

"I certainly have not! It's just...crazy! I don't even think Kisuke will know of any incidents like this..."

"Nope!" the man walked in and sat back down.

"Y-you listened?" Orihime gasped.

He gave her a reassuring look and nodded, "Don't worry. I would have had to have heard it at some point anyway, correct? That's why you came here."

"Yes..." she agreed slowly, "I'm sorry...I-I don't know...what..."

"We'll figure something out, Orihime. Just give us a few days, we can look into this. Just because we've never heard about something like this doesn't mean it's never happened. Try to just continue, and we'll tell you as soon as we find something. Have you mentioned this to anybody yet?" Yoruichi took several short, of course, cat-sized, small steps over to her.

"N-No...I mean, not yet."

"Let's keep it that way for now. Once we can confirm what it is, we'll handle the situation before the danger comes," Kisuke said.

The cat nodded and wandered further into the back rooms of the shop. "Inoue-san, you may leave now. Please keep yourself safe, and try to avoid combat. I promise to do whatever I can to help, and I will send somebody to inform you once we find a little more information on this matter. You may leave now."

Orihime nodded, thanked him, and left. She'd have to cross several districts to get back home, it was quite a journey. There was no rush, she silently scurried back with attempts to forget her embarrassment.

–

It passed on to Saturday. Everything had been normal through the two days she'd had to return to school, where she easily brushed the concern of her absence on the previous day as a twenty-four hour illness. Everything had to _stay_ normal too. After talking with two of the most intelligent spiritually-aware people in town, she'd waited. Any news would be good, even if it was bad. There were too many unanswered questions.

Now that the weekend had come up again, she wondered what to do with herself. Speaking to her friends had been difficult, because there was still so much curiosity. Ichigo was the only one in school who knew, the others were still asking. But still, there was that other secret that she had to keep from him.

Ichigo seemed fairly happy with all he knew about. They were friends just like before, Orihime had to use her fake smile and pretend that it was fine. It was working so far, but it was tiring. She wanted to know how long she'd have to keep it up before she told him, an event which she feared, though knew as unavoidable.

Though she was scared, and had no idea what would become of her, she woke up happy. At last, she had two days to herself. Whether they would be boring or not, she could drop the stupid act and sulk while curled up, lay in darkness. Rolled over to the edge of her bed, she grabbed her phone from the nightstand and flicked through her contacts.

Of course, she didn't have to see him and make the effort, but the good morning message was still necessary. After typing in the familiar keys, she hit send and threw it back at the surface.

Today was a day of freedom, but also possibly a milestone. It was two weeks since she was first raped, obviously, but she wouldn't know the chances of her crazy sped-up pregnancy beginning on that same day.

Her proof was getting more visible each day, though of course, at first she hadn't noticed. The elegantly-shaped however scarred bulge of life was forming at her abdomen quite quickly, and it was becoming harder to cover it up in her clothes. She wasn't expected any visitors, but whatever clothes she chose to where would have to serve that purpose. Any of her friends could show up with offers of a trip out into the bustling city life of Karakura.

Oh, wait. Most of them were afraid to talk to her. They asked about the scars every day, of course, but they feared whatever had caused them. Words just couldn't go too far between them.

So she'd have to be alone, like she wanted, and probably would be. Who would pay attention to her? The only person who she would sacrifice her weekend for was Ichigo, and he wouldn't just show up, not usually, anyway.

After a couple of minutes spent lay there in bed, thinking, her stomach demanded food. There was no choice but to give in. Orihime pulled herself up and out, and wandered to the kitchen. She emerged again with a bowl of rice and chopsticks, which she placed on the table and sat down to eat. As she indulged in a few minutes of peace, completely without worrying, without thinking.

Those were rare moments, and she was sure to stop and enjoy them whenever they came by.

–

Ichigo shuffled down the stairs, yawning and rubbing his eyes. He wasn't surprised to have just made it out of bed at one in the afternoon, not after staying up for so long during the previous night. For the first time ever, he'd gone with the idea of finishing his homework on Friday, rather than worrying about it all weekend.

"Brother!" Yuzu called. He saw her run towards him as he reached the bottom. Karin followed, "Go get dressed Ichigo, you're coming with us!"

"Wha-?" his sister shoved a slice of toast in his mouth mid-sentence.

Isshin, his father, stepped forwards, "You missed my wake-up call," he sobbed, "now you must be punished, my son!"

Ichigo pulled the toast out for a moment, "What? What do I have to do?"

"You're gonna come with me and Karin to Tsubakidai Park!" Yuzu answered cheerfully. He shook his head rapidly, and they pushed him back to the stairs.

"Fine, fine! Just give me an hour..."

"Ten minutes!" the girls grinned behind his back, and pushed him up further and further. It was exactly ten minutes later that he stood against the wall, by the front door. "Come on, Ichi-nii!"

He followed them across the streets. His head was down low and he was bored, so much that he thought about sneaking away from them and back to bed.

That really wouldn't do him any good though. Karin would just kick a soccer ball through his window and wake him up again, and Yuzu might make him get his own dinner.

They arrived not too long after he had this idea, and it just didn't seem worth it. As the girls went off and into a crowd of people their age, he wondered what to do. Sitting there on a bench wasn't proving to be much fun. And this was because of a stupid wake-up call.

Maybe if his dad would have tried a little harder, he wouldn't be here.

With a sigh, he stood up and made an escape. Of course, he'd come back. A walk around the area just seemed like more fun. This place was familiar, more so than anywhere else in Karakura. Around here was his home, including the clinic, the park of course, then both Chad and Orihime's apartments. The thought lit up his mind; Orihime's apartment.

He didn't think about barging in and surprising her, but another cup of coffee with her sounded pretty good to him. In just a minute, he came to the street right behind hers.

"Ichigo!" somebody called.

The human-shinigami-turned-Visored teenager looked around. There was nobody in sight. "Hey, I'm right here!"

It was only then that he recognized the voice. Yoruichi strolled over, fashioning her black fur. Ichigo carried on walking.

"That's quite ignorant, you know."

"I'm not talking to a cat in public," he whispered through gritted teeth. The cat at least looked to be grinning, "No worries, I'm out for a reason anyway. See you some other time."

"Wait, where are you going?"

"...To see Orihime, she asked for me to suggest ways for her to train a little, that's all. Don't worry, I won't hurt her!" her eyes seemed to be laughing.

Ichigo pushed it out of his mind and continued, deciding to head to the supermarket in search of some boxed sushi.

–

"Orihime?" Yoruichi called.

She'd just changed to human form, and quickly dressed herself outside the apartment, only after thoroughly checking that Ichigo was gone, and no other people were around. The girl with the worried face opened the door, and gave a quick smile to the caller.

"Hello, Yoruichi-san."

They both went inside and sat at the table, she could see that she had something to say, at least. "It's been two days, and it's finally time to report the findings to you."

Orihime gave another short smile, almost more genuine than the other. "Okay, what is it?"

"I'm afraid you don't have any reason to be smiling with this case."

–

**Long time no see, eh? Eh? EH? Feels good to be updating again, after soo long. Sorry about that, I promise you, I tried! But I was really stuck there for a while.**

**After my huge efforts (hehe) to get this finished and up before my last week of freedom is over, a review would be just incredible, and I will love you forever.**

**~HellYus**


	8. Knives and Various Visitors

_**At the Hands of a Hollow**_

Chapter 8: Knives and Various Visitors

_Previously: "Hello, Yoruichi-san."_

_They both went inside and sat at the table, she could see that she had something to say, at least. "It's been two days, and it's finally time to report the findings to you."_

_Orihime gave another short smile, almost more genuine than the other. "Okay, what is it?"_

"_I'm afraid you don't have any reason to be smiling with this case."_

"N-not good news then..." she sighed to herself, "but anyway, please continue."

The shinigami woman nodded, "We can confirm that you are in fact carrying a 'child' that is both human and hollow." Orihime nodded briefly, she had expected this to be the truth. After all, it wasn't normal for it to be visible after only two weeks.

"We can also say that; no, this has never happened before. But we've found ways to prevent it, one of which shouldn't harm you at all.

"First of all, we could perform some kind of surgery to get rid of it. Perhaps Ryuuken Ishida would help us out with that. Though it would be possible for Kisuke to do it...but well...I don't think you'd want that, really. Second, we can hope that the foetus is too weak to survive however long it will rely on you without souls, and will pass naturally. Or then, of course, you could probably just reject it's existence."

"Y-Yoruichi-san... I don't...want...to get rid of it."

She blinked, "What do you mean? You don't...expect to be able to keep it, do you? I hope you realize the potential danger here, this is serious."

"I-I...don't think I could take a life like this, not when it never did anything to deserve it. Yoruichi-san...I don't want to kill a baby..."

It felt strange to Orihime to admit to the more serious version of Yoruichi that she didn't want to kill it. "I'm sorry..." she whispered.

"Orihime, I understand you here, I do. But you have to think about what could happen if this thing turned out to be something other than you'd expect. It will surely have hollow powers, abilities we can't control. Anything could happen here, it could hurt somebody."

"Then...I'll make sure it never does...I'll give my own life stopping it before anybody else's can be taken. If it turns out that it will want to...kill people...then I-I'll take back...what I say now...please. I can't let you kill something that you can't yet prove isn't innocent."

The look in her eyes as she spoke, Yoruichi couldn't figure out. It was somewhere between the plea of a kind soul or the love and determination to protect of a mother, potentially. She pleaded and pleaded just with that spark in her shining, tear-filled eyes.

"...It's not my place to allow it, really. It's been your decision all along, but if you made the wrong choice I would have to do something. Orihime, I'll let you do as you please, what you just said now. But honestly, if it all goes wrong and we find a monster on our hands, I really will have to stop you both."

"So...I can...?"

"Yes, I'm going to watch over you. But I have a request."

"R-right! What is it?"

"You have to tell Ichigo."

–

Orihime paced by her front door. It was Monday, and she was about to leave for school. However, the presence of Ichigo waiting outside for her was making her 'reconsider her health.'

It was be so simple to go out and say 'I'm not coming today, I don't feel good.'

Except she was already dressed for school, and it would take her a while to undress. With that, she didn't want Ichigo to be late because of her.

She sighed, why did he have to be so nice to her? If she wasn't so in love with him, maybe she'd say something. But being rude to him was out of the question in any scenario, as they were still friends.

He knocked on the door.

Orihime jumped and and her knees buckled. At the point she was standing in the kitchen, and pulled down a cloth hanging from the edge of the counter, resulting in a few metal pans falling to the ground too. They clattered loudly on the hard surface.

Ichigo pushed the door open and ran inside. He froze to look around. Everything seemed fine, until Orihime groaned slightly on the floor.

"Orihime!" he shouted and ran to her, "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah...it's nothing..."

"Look at your hand!" he practically screamed. Orihime looked steadily down at her hand. _'Oh right...I forgot to put it away, huh?'_

Then she entered a world of pain. "O-okay!" she observed the source of the red river. A large knife had fallen and stuck right through the palm of her hand. It throbbed and stung and ached, yet she could hardly make a noise. She became tired, and her vision became blurry through tears and darkness.

She passed out without knowing what Ichigo was saying to her.

–

"Oh, are you waking up now?"

Her eyes fluttered open, she was in her apartment, and Ichigo was standing over her. He smiled warmly at her, "I guess that was a stupid thing to say, more so if you hadn't have actually woken up then."

Orihime had to look around a bit before she could figure it out. She was still in her uniform, now covered in dry blood, and she was lay on her couch. "What happened?" she squeaked out quietly.

She didn't remember anything until Ichigo explained it all, speaking with concern. "So, do you feel okay?"

"E-except for my hand, yes, I...probably am."

"I'm sorry that I didn't know what to do...I should have taken you to a hospital or something..."

She blinked, "Uhm...what...did you do?"

"Oh, right," he smacked his hand against his forehead, "I kinda panicked, then I called the quincy. He came and bandaged up your hand for you, and then he left, because I already dragged him out of school for this."

"Okay..." she said, "...wait, school! You didn't go to school?"

"Well, no...I couldn't just leave you here to figure it all out for yourself when you woke up. And I found these," he said, and held up her hairpins.

Her eyes shone brightly at the sight of them for a second, "Thank you." He placed them in her still-decent hand, "You should be able to heal yourself now."

"R-really...thanks a lot," she sniffled, eyes filling again, "but you really shouldn't have stayed here, you should have gone to school! I don't want to hold you back any more..."

"Hey," he said, "you're not holding me back at all. I only want to help you, Orihime..."

Just realizing what he said, he turned away and blushed a little. She wanted to giggle at this, but was still crying.

_'Maybe that's the hormonal part...'_

She'd forgotten right there that she was pregnant, or was. She looked ahead of her. The bump was just a slight mound under the blanket covering her, and she was definitely still pregnant.

And she had to tell him, somehow. She'd been thinking about it while curled up in the corner all day, yesterday.

Ichigo walked away for a second, and came back with a pair of scissors. "We may as well take the bandage off, then you can heal yourself and you should be fine."

She nodded and sat up, careful that the blanket covered up the bump in her torso. She slipped her hairpins in and let him cut off the bandage, careful not to start any more bleeding.

"How many layers did that idiot think was necessary, jeez..." Ichigo muttered on the sixth layer of bandages. They kept going and it made them more and more nervous to be so close to each other for so long.

"I think this is the end," Orihime informed him as the pressure started to dissolve from the tight bandage, and the last thin layer could be seen. Ichigo pulled it right off and found nothing.

Her palm had no evidence of a knife ever sticking through it. "What...happened..." Ichigo rubbed his hand and stared at her perfectly clear skin.

"I d-don't know..." she gaped at it. "It disappeared?" he coughed in disbelief.

_I wanted to help you._

Orihime shuddered and looked around. Who spoke to her? Ichigo looked at her with a confused expression. But really, his eyes were still curious from the 'mystery'.

_'Who wanted to help me?' _Orihime wondered in her head. She looked down at her stomach, and got up from the couch. "Please excuse me," she murmured and shuffled to the bathroom.

When the door was locked, she pulled up her shirt to look at her stomach. "Are you talking to me?" she whispered quietly.

_I'm sorry, Mama. I tried to help you._

Her eyes widened again. This had happened before, only once. It was at the moment in which she tried to destroy her child, and then he pleaded for his life just once, and she couldn't continue. That was partly how she decided that he was innocent.

She pulled down her clothing and sat down on the floor, knees up to her chin with her arms wrapped around them. _'What is going on here...'_ she thought, rocking slightly.

When her courage gathered a little, she emerged and wordlessly sat on the couch next to Ichigo.

"Orihime...?"

"Yes?"

"Are you okay, is there something you need to talk about?"

She studied his knowing eyes carefully. She'd never really thought about him figuring it out, assuming something was wrong.

"Yes...but I can't talk about it, I'm not brave enough," she sighed.

"So, you don't want to tell me?"

"No, no, I do. I have to tell you in fact, one way or another."

"Is it important that you tell me?"

"Yes."

"So you should?"

"Yes."

"Then you should go ahead and tell me, what's gonna happen?"

"I can't...I-I...just...don't know, it's complicated, and stupid. I have to pretend like I'm happy!" she cried, "I don't want to pretend, I want to sit in the dark! My mind is running in circles trying to figure out what I should do, how I should act, but I don't dare to do anything!"

She stood up and started to panic, crying and waving her arms about. He could see very well that she was confused and afraid.

"Orihime...it's okay..." he said, and grabbed her hands. She froze and looked through her teary eyes, watching him intently. "I was the one to say it was okay, but...I don't know, I just don't know..." her voice gradually rose with each word.

"Then I'll help you make it okay, but you have to tell me..."

"I can't, Ichigo! I'm sorry, it's all too stupid and dangerous and...nobody knows anything! I wasn't even so...worked up about this, I never really had a chance to be afraid before! You must hate me right now for acting so crazy and-"

She was stopped by his lips. During her ranting she never noticed his hand cup her face or his own come closer. He kissed her and she stopped it all, and forgot.

The moment was peaceful, the opposite to her shouting. However, it was a little too peaceful, and some people weren't willing to miss the opportunity that it opened.

When he opened his eyes again, they were golden. His skin turned pale, and his presence cold rather than warm. The hollow took control in seconds.

He wrapped his arms around her after their kiss broke and he inhaled her scent. "I missed you..." he breathed.

Orihime stayed still in his arms until he let go, and then she saw his face. "Y-you...how did you get out...?" she whispered. And then she looked a little closer.

Instead of bloodthirsty and crazed, his eyes were sad and lonely. He stared into her eyes in a different way, one he'd never shown to her before.

"I haven't seen you in a while."

"There's a reason for that..." she began to breathe faster and faster, stepping slowly backwards, away from him. Even if he didn't appear the same, he could always have the same intentions as before.

"I didn't come to hurt you."

"Then what do you want?"

The smirk he wore as he cocked his head to one side was strangely close to a genuine smile of amusement. "Is it so bad that I want to get a proper view of you? He stares at you all he wants and you never question him."

"W-well...you are d-dangerous...you hurt people."

His 'smile' vanished and he shot her a hurt glance, "I told you, I didn't come here to hurt you. I'm not gonna do that."

"There are other people who you could hurt..."

"Who?"

"I-Ichigo...or...the humans," she said, trying to avoid the child.

"Well, if I hurt him, I hurt myself, and I rarely ever get the chance to kill anybody, so why would I now? I'm here right now with you, not out looking for people to slice up."

She had to admit to herself in her head, that he had a point. "Well, what are you going to do here, then?"

"I don't really know yet..."

Orihime sighed, what was she supposed to do now? He couldn't have come just to look at her, could he? It sounded just about crazy enough to be a real idea of his, though. Was she supposed to talk to him about to weather or something?

"What do you really want?"

"I just want to..." his eyes, fixed to hers, seemed to glow as the clouds uncovered the sun and a little extra light shone in through the window. He slowly stepped towards her and kissed her.

She didn't stop him, she still had no idea what to do, or what kind of game he was trying to play. She let him captivate her senses, and practically hung in his arms, which had snaked around her waist.

He released her lips and embraced her again. Behind her head, his lips were still and straight as he smiled through his eyes.

"What game are you playing with me?" she murmured into his neck, arms hanging loose still and legs feeling weak.

"I'm not playing games, I don't know what's wrong with me..." he muttered.

_Mama..._

The voice of her child echoed out loud. The hollow became suddenly even more still, "What was that?"

"Y-you heard?"

"Yeah...what was it?"

Orihime slipped into a panic again. What should she tell him? _'What an inconvenient time to do that...'_ she thought to herself. _Sorry, Mama._

"There it was again," the hollow let go of Orihime and strode about the apartment, looking for the source of the voice.

"Nobody else is here..." she whispered with a guilty expression.

"What, you mean to tell me it never happened? You heard it too, right?"

"Yes, it came from me."

"What?"

The hollow gazed at her with a look she couldn't figure out. It was anger, curiosity and denial all mixed together. She nodded.

He walked back over to her and waited for her explanation. Orihime kept her head down as she asked, "May I have your hands please?"

After a moment of suspicion, he held out both of his hands. She hesitantly pulled up her shirt again, revealed the bump at her abdomen, and she placed his hands on the cool surface of her skin.

He stared for a while, not looking very surprised. "So this is what you couldn't tell him about, huh?"

She nodded briefly. "It's not an easy thing to say, you know..."

"Well, I hope you realize he's listening now."

"H-he is?"

The hollow flinched, and looked at her with worried eyes. "He's coming back..."

"B-but..." she stared at him confusedly.

"I'm sorry I did this to you."

And then the white hair turned back to orange, yellow eyes to brown, and pale skin to regular tone. The Ichigo she knew was back again. His hands were resting on her stomach, and he shakily turned his head up to her.

"I-Ichigo..." she whispered, seeing the terror in his usually calm eyes.

He pulled his hands back quickly. "I have to leave now..." he said and ran, up to the door and outside.

–

***Update!***

**There, I did as RainingLight1 asked! XD I'm going on holiday from Friday until...Friday next week, I think. So I thought I may as well finish off this chapter (which has been sitting here with three sentences for a while.)**

**As always, it killed me to write. But actually, I did the second and half of the third page super quickly cos' I got really into it and was slamming at my keyboard while just staring straight at my screen like a mad woman. :P (So excuse typos.)**

**Review please! That's all I ask for c:**

**Just say anything; you hate it, you love it, it lacked something, you enjoyed a particular scene, or you can beg me to update and I might try do to it before I leave on Friday! (And I promise, I really will try my best, for the children's sake...s)**

**;)**

**~HellYus**


	9. Arguments

_**At the Hands of a Hollow**_

Chapter 9: Arguments

_Previously: The Ichigo she knew was back again. His hands were resting on her stomach, and he shakily turned his head up to her._

"_I-Ichigo..." she whispered, seeing the terror in his usually calm eyes._

_He pulled his hands back quickly. "I have to leave now..." he said and ran, up to the door and outside._

Ichigo slammed his fist into the wall.

He'd only just run from Orihime's apartment, and was now a few blocks away, punching a perfectly innocent brick wall.

_'How the hell could I let this happen...'_ his head screamed as he furiously released his anger. _'Damn hollow...you do nothing but ruin everyone's life...'_

"**It's nice to know you have a great opinion on me..." **he snickered.

_'Do you not freakin' realize what the hell you've done?'_

"**...Yeah, I do, actually. And can I take it back? No. But, can I replay the cause of it in _our _mind? Yes, I can!"**

_'You're just a sick freak.'_

"**You keep telling yourself that, Kingy. I'm not the one who kissed our Princess without permission, am I?"**

_'Actually, you kind of are. And you kissed her when you took over too, which was quite romantic for you, in fact...'_ he scowled at the wall now, knuckles bloody and mind clouded.

"**I let her know about it. And well, I have to be at the same level as you or else it's not fair, now, is it?"**

_'...Level? Just what the hell do you mean?'_

"**I mean, I'm not falling behind just because I don't get out much."**

_'What? Falling behind on what?'_

"**It's not rocket science, idiot. We both love the Princess, and it's not a friendly competition. Don't tell me you didn't know that."**

Ichigo wasn't quite sure what to say, or rather think. His mind was blank, and suddenly he was thinking of a rocket ship made out of rice.

"**It's gone quiet...what should we talk about now?"**. The hollow's grinning face flashed up in his mind, and the rice ship tumbled over and collapsed into piles.

_'Shut up, I've heard enough of you...you speak now like nothing really happened. What was with you earlier? You were hugging my-...I mean, Orihime, and making it pretty damn obvious that you care about her.'_

"**I just told you I did. So shut the hell up, I can treat her however I want, it's not up to you, Kingy. There are some things you can't control."**

_'Ugh, just stop it! I told you I've heard enough!'_

Again, his head was silent. The hollow had retreated for the edge of his mind and returned to the dark, forgotten corners. Ichigo shuffled through the shadow of the wall with a pained look on his face.

Orihime was pregnant.

Orihime was having a hollow child.

The hollow had completely screwed up her life.

It felt like there was nothing at all he could do about it.

–

Orihime had wandered outside to look for Ichigo. The way he had just taken off scared her, she didn't want him to be afraid, but she'd known he would be all along.

He had every reason to be scared. She couldn't really blame him for it.

_Where did he go, Mama?_

She flinched as she crept along the pavement, hearing his voice again. _'I-I don't know...'_

It certainly wasn't a lie. Ichigo had disappeared, she didn't know where to find him. As she moved along through the street a little quicker, she found a clue.

One of the walls had marks of blood splattered about it.

After seeing that, she only hoped he hadn't hurt himself or anybody else. But she knew how he could be when he felt he hadn't protected somebody.

She continued her search for hours and hours, and found nothing. Sometimes hollows could be heard, maybe attracted by his spiritual pressure intensifying more every second.

When nothing else was found, she returned back to her home and cried.

It wasn't unlikely that it would be a while before she'd find him.

And she wasn't willing to let him go for a mistake like this one.

–

Ichigo opened his eyes.

It was bright, he was lay by a window, the sun was blinding him. Once his vision cleared up, he saw he was in a familiar place, Urahara Shoten.

He shifted on the futon to lay on his side, and winced as the pain struck him. Lifting up the cover with a careful arm, he saw his body covered in bandages.

"Well, look who's finally awake!"

Kisuke Urahara walked in, closed the door and started waving his fan. The shaggy blonde-haired Shinigami-Store Owner sat about a metre away from him.

"So what happened?"

The ex-captian didn't use his usual smile or grin as he explained. "It seems you found out about Orihime's little problem. Then you got just slightly mad about it, and ran around mindlessly slaughtering hollows for a whole week. We only just found you, last night. You were injured and exhausted, finally collapsed from the pressure. You'd made it a few cities east before we could get to you though, remind me to applaud you for that later."

Ichigo scowled, "Where is Orihime? I...need to see her."

"She's staying in the back room, we've been having a few troubles with her. Your disappearance has made her break down completely, and her health is no longer at it's best. The child takes her energy and she can hardly do anything but sleep."

"What? Why are you...what?"

"Calm down, Ichigo, you'll open your stitches."

"You're letting her keep it?"

"It's her decision, and she doesn't want to destroy it."

"_It's _going to destroy her, it's a hollow!"

"Yes, and it's also half human. Orihime swears that she won't let it hurt anybody, and we're going to keep watch on that. If it becomes a danger, we will stop it. She already agreed to this."

"...I need to see her, right now."

"I don't think now would be a great time...we need to explain a few things to you before you can see her..."

"What? Just let me see her, what's going to happen?"

"She changed a lot in the past week."

"So what? Do you really expect me to sit through an explanation when you know that I _need _to see her right now?"

Kisuke sighed, "That's a good point. I'll let you go in to her, but you have to listen afterwords, okay?"

"Fine."

He led Ichigo through the winding walls of the shop. They came to the back room's door in a minute, and Kisuke left him.

Ichigo slid the door open and stepped inside. The first thing he saw were the machines and cables. He followed them along the floor and saw the next object. Orihime.

She was lay on several futons, piled together, and the machines were all hooked up to her.

Her face was pale and thin, and her cheeks looked hollow. There was something about seeing her in this state that made him want to run again, but he wasn't going anywhere this time.

He'd done this to her?

His heart ached at that thought. He'd been too weak to fight off the hollow in the first place, the hollow hurt her in so many ways, and then he'd taken off and left her to worry about it for a whole week.

Orihime Inoue was no ordinary human being. She cared for everybody but herself, and definitely wouldn't think to look after herself when one of her friends was missing. He was sure, that he was just a reckless idiot who wanted to protect people, but never could. He messed everything up for everyone.

She opened her eyes.

"...I...Ichigo?" Orihime sat up and rubbed her eyes. Ichigo sat down next to where she lay, "Hey, don't sit up, are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine..." she lied, "where did you go?"

"I don't really know, all over the place. I'm...I'm sorry I did that, I ran away. This...is...just...crazy. What he did to you in the first place...that was bad enough, and now this. I'm so sorry."

"Well, you're not the only one who apologized..."

"Huh?"

"The hollow...before you came back he said he was sorry...sorry for doing this to me. What did he mean, Ichigo? I-I don't know why he would apologize..." she bit her lip and turned half of her focus to playing with her thumbs.

Ichigo knew the answer very well, now at least. He felt guilty, but it wasn't really the kind of thing he wanted to tell her. He hated to think of how she would react to finding out that the sadistic hollow who raped her and impregnated her was now in love with her.

"I don't know, either..." he took his turn to lie. Then he didn't know what to say, not until he looked at Orihime again.

He tried not to stare at it, but he could barely keep his eyes away. It seemed impossible, after what he saw only a week before.

"Oh...so you've noticed..." she spoke with easily detectable sadness, but she herself didn't know why it was there in her voice. She put a hand up and rubbed her abdomen in delicate circles. He watched her with confusion, just waiting for her to say something else.

"It must be weird for you, right? I'm used to it now, really...everything's changing so quickly..." she said, still rubbing the bump under her pyjamas. It now stretched a little over fifteen centimetres, at the side, from where her torso used to end.

"...Why are you staying here? I'm guessing..._it's _the one causing trouble, right?"

Her eyes then filled with hurt. She couldn't really blame him for being against her choices, but there wasn't anything she could do. Though she once thought she'd do anything for him, she never considered that one day she'd also love an innocent child that people wanted dead.

"H-he does what he has to, just to survive. I don't mind if it means hurting me..." she whispered, "It's okay for him to-"

"It hurts you?"

After a moment of silence she nodded without a word, "B-but..."

"Orihime, why are you letting this thing live?" he scowled. It was hurting the girl he loved, it was a problem. He only wished it was one he could solve easily.

"Because...he never hurt anybody on purpose, it's not his fault that he's here, I don't want to be the reason why he never gets to live. He doesn't have to be a monster, just because he's a hollow..." she cried.

Ichigo looked at her apologetically. He didn't need to get her worked up about it. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I'll...try to understand, but..." he said quietly, "...I don't know, never mind. Why so certain with the 'he', anyway?"

She took a few seconds to calm down, and shrugged her shoulders, "I don't really know, it just feels like I should call it a he...I mean, a hollow is usually a 'he', right?". A familiar Orihime-smile crept onto her face as she dove back into the imagination she'd almost left behind with all of her depression.

"That's true, actually...I don't see 'she' hollows very often..." he said. It seemed best to play along now, even if he felt just as awkward as always while acting more like the boy he abandoned when his mother died.

A black cat, obviously none other than Yoruichi, walked in with her tail high. She sat down at the end of the futons, "Kisuke said you two were talking, I'm not surprised really."

The two humans blushed a little at her comment. "I-Is something wrong Yoruichi?" Orihime stuttered nervously, keeping her eyes fixed away from Ichigo.

"Possibly. I just came in to tell you something Kisuke mentioned, and it might seem sudden but isn't everything on this matter?" the cat showed a grin.

"Okay, what is it?" Ichigo asked, now cross-legged and leaning on his elbow, his face resting on his fist.

"Judging by the speed of this shown so far, we should expect that the child will be born in just over a week."

–

The dates rolled over until it eventually reached Thursday, three days after Ichigo woke up. His injuries had healed, and he was returned to school, despite his protests. He'd insisted that somebody needed to protect Orihime, and he would do it. Of course, Yoruichi told him that she'd be watching over her all day, and he hadn't managed to find any other excuses.

He was standing outside Urahara Shoten. Since returning home after he awoke on Monday, he'd started getting up earlier so that he could get ready and then go to see Orihime.

Her condition was only worsening, and it worried them all. But she was still determined, and she was sure it'd only be for about a week now. After that, she didn't want to think.

Even though she knew the child as innocent, it was scary, not knowing just how much like a hollow he would be.

"I'll come back as soon as I can," Ichigo assured her as he was about to leave. Orihime had very skilfully persuaded him to let her come to the door to see him off. She was wearing her pyjamas and had a thick blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

Her arms and legs were weak and skinny, and she was still pale. The bump was now very easy to see, it had extended so much that the tops of her legs were barely visible under the dark shadow it cast down to her knees.

"You've missed a lot of days at school recently...are you sure you won't get into trouble?" she asked him with worry glistening in her eyes.

"I wouldn't worry," he smirked, "it wouldn't be that first time I skipped school for days and then came back with no explanation."

"Well, that's true," she managed a smile.

Having him know and, almost, accept the truth had cheered her up quite a lot. She wasn't depressed any more, she knew so many more answers, and all there was left to do was wait for the baby to come. She tried not to think about how she would go about delivering him, every time Yoruichi tried to bring it up she avoided it as best she could.

Ichigo left quickly, it would take him quite a while to walk from Mitsumiya to Gakuenchou, despite the fact that they were next to each other.

As soon as he left, Yoruichi herded her back to bed. She didn't know what to do. Normally, when he wasn't there, she'd just wait for him to come. Sometimes she could sleep and wait, but it was morning, she wasn't tired. He wouldn't get back for hours, so she sat in bed and turned her focus to the bump.

The baby 'spoke' to her more and more everyday, whenever he had a comment to add. Ichigo found the fact that he was sentient unnerving and creepy, because it reminded him more and more of his hollow. He just kept quiet while Orihime had her little thought conversations with him.

_Mama, I'm coming to see you soon._

_'I know, you should be here in a week, right!'_

He told her lots of things, about what he could hear and many other things. He'd very often recite conversations that he heard between Orihime and Ichigo.

_I'll come and meet Ichigo._

Ichigo was another one of the baby's favourite topics. He didn't get to hear many people talk around him, but Ichigo was always there. He listened to anything he had to say very contently.

_'I'm sure he wants to meet you.'_

_I'll come and meet him in five days, okay Mama?_

_'You know when you're going to come?'_

_Yep, five days._

Orihime smiled down at the bump, "Then I'll see you in five days."

–

**Wasn't sure how to end that...awkward...**

**Hey, an update! In like, 20 something hours! I was seriously crying at how many reviews I got, you guys are incredible. 3 I'm so glad to see that people are enjoying this~**

**So I thought you deserved this. I stayed up super late got and up super early and sat at my laptop all day writing this for you! (And the laptop is soo gunna overheat any moment. It's already weirdly hot today. Strange, considering I'm British and it's never hot...)**

**Please review! That's all I ask for c:**

**Tell me anything! You hated this chapter, you loved it, it lacked something, Ichigo likes rice rocket ships? Anything at all! And hey, since it worked last time, review cos' if you do I'll want to update again before I leave on Friday~~**

**;)**

**~HellYus**


	10. Nearing Ends and Beginnings

_**At the Hands of a Hollow**_

Chapter 10: Nearing Ends and Beginnings

_Previously: _I'll come and meet Ichigo.

_Ichigo was another one of the baby's favourite topics. He didn't get to hear many people talk around him, but Ichigo was always there. He listened to anything he had to say very contently._

_'I'm sure he wants to meet you.'_

I'll come and meet him in five days, okay Mama?

_'You know when you're going to come?'_

Yep, five days.

_Orihime smiled down at the bump, "Then I'll see you in five days."_

As the next day went by, Orihime only got worse. It became difficult for her to breathe, and everybody had to make sure she was in bed at all times. Although they knew that the baby would be arriving very soon, they were concerned about her than anything else.

Ichigo hated the hollow more and more every time he saw her pale figure, sleeping with pain and suffering invading her once bright and colourful dreams.

He stayed there by her side, where he had been since he came back from school. Today, he wasn't going to go, he was just too worried about her. He'd feel better watching her with his own eyes, even if it hurt him to see her, pale and thin, her life wasting away.

The pair of lunatics, as he'd started calling them, tried to reassure him that they would do, and were currently doing, to keep Orihime alive. But Ichigo knew better. He was sure it couldn't all go perfectly, because what had so far? It had been a crazy few weeks, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

When he showed up in the morning, he found Orihime waiting for him, as always. She smiled as he slid open the door and slipped inside. "How are you today?"

"I feel better actually," she said quietly. Every time she was asked that question, her answer was never fully true. She'd been awake all night. The baby had been draining her energy again, and it hurt her so much that she couldn't sleep, so she waited for him to come for much longer than usual.

"Are you sure? Doesn't look like it," he pulled his face into a frowning sort of scowl. She tried to flash a convincing smile and failed.

"You can tell, huh?" she whispered.

"Yeah."

"**Must feel so special, eh lover boy? You offended her."**

_'Shut the hell up, no I did not.'_

"**Did too. Maybe we should switch, I'll be nicer to her."**

Ichigo sat down and scowled harder, turning his face to the wall. _'I don't care what you want to do.'_

"**Aww, come on, Kingy. You can let me out for a minute or two, what if I need to tell her something?"**

_'Well then you can't.'_

"**Yeah I can, just because you think you're in charge, it doesn't mean I can't get out."**

_'Oh, so you can? Well go ahead.'_

Ichigo waited, and the hollow left him alone. He turned to Orihime, who was giving him a strange look. "Is something wrong?"

"Nah, just arguing. He seems to think I should let him talk to you."

Orihime shivered, and looked guiltily down at the ground, or at least what she could see of it past the bump. "I was actually hoping that someday I'd get to speak with him again. I needed to ask him something..."

He sighed, "Well, I'd let you, but I can't tell what he'd do. If only I could somehow make sure he was only out for a minute..."

"**I'm willing to go for that," **his voice echoed through Ichigo's head again.

"W-wouldn't he do that?"

Ichigo slammed his hand to his face, "Apparently so..."

She shifted on the futon, "...Would you...please...let me talk to him?". Orihime knew that whatever she said to Ichigo, the hollow would hear. For some reason she just wanted to speak to him directly, and find out.

Across from her, Ichigo considered what she had asked. The hollow probably wouldn't try anything dangerous, considering he loved her and all. But, there was still a risk. He didn't really know what Orihime wanted to say to him. But he loved her too, so a part of him wanted to let her. So he did.

He nodded quickly, and relaxed for a moment. The hollow overcame him, as he allowed, and his appearance changed to the pale face of the monster.

"...Hi," Orihime whispered.

The hollow crossed his legs and leaned forwards a little, "Hey. You wanted to say something?"

"I was told that you wanted to talk to me, too."

He smirked, "Well I was just wondering why you let yourself get into that state just because King is a moron and made you worry for a whole week."

Despite the pain in her back as she tried to sit up straight, something was telling her to cower away from his presence. Of course, she'd requested to speak to him, she couldn't change her mind and send him away now.

"I-I was going to ask why you said you were sorry."

A cold silence started to spread around the room as he thought about his answer. After about half a minute, he moved forwards and wrapped his arms around her tiny figure. "Because I am sorry," he breathed.

"Well then...why are you sorry?" she inhaled deeply, waiting for an answer to the question she'd meant in the first place.

"I'm sorry, because there's a sick part of me that's like him, whether I like it or not."

She nodded in understanding and turned her face. He'd hugged her from behind, so there was a glimpse of his white face in the corner of her eye at this new angle. "Why are you being nice to me? Y-you know, I just mean it's a change from...b-before..."

"I'm just looking after what belongs to me. I'm trying not to break you, that's all," he muttered with a sigh. Even though he was embracing her, and saying these things, he didn't know how to show love. It was a mystery to him, why people loved each other, why he loved her.

They stayed silent for a few moments longer, and then the hollow's arms released her. When she turned around, Ichigo had gained control again and was looking at her with a mixture of questioning and concern.

She let out a sigh and closed her eyes.

Ichigo's eyes slowly fell the the floor. There was nothing he felt that he could say to her, so he offered the best gesture he could as her sudden exhaustion took over. He sat right by her side. After she'd eventually drifted off, his hesitant fingers took hers and both of his hands curled around her cold one.

–

Two average days passed. They were simple, and easy. Orihime stayed in bed at all times, and she persuaded Ichigo to go to school on the first day. It was all going fine, or so they thought.

Orihime was just finishing a blissful dream about a world in which the ground is made of silk with the dangerous yellow eyes of a hollow. She jerked herself awake and found her lungs empty, so she lay back and tried to regain her breathing pace.

After some twenty minutes of her struggling, Ichigo walked in and gave her a slight smile. He sat down. "Good morning," he said.

Her eyes were fixed onto his, and after a couple of seconds she found her respiratory system going at her regular speed. "Good morning," she breathed.

Then she winced and clutched her stomach. It was the same old sharp pain inflicted on her every so often by the baby's movement. Ichigo leaned over her slightly, there wasn't anything he could do. Nobody could do anything to stop this.

Orihime's heavy breathing was the only noise that could be heard now. He could see that she was in a lot of pain, she always was. Even when the baby wasn't moving, she was in pain. It was always there, just sometimes more intensified.

_It's your fault, _his mind whispered, _it's your fault that she's like this._

Thoughts like those haunted him no matter what, but he ignored them for Orihime's sake. If he ended up taking off again she'd probably never forgive him, he was sure.

Nothing could scare him away, he'd sworn to himself that he'd protect her.

He was beginning to doubt that he could help her at all now. The hollow child was a few steps beyond what he could protect her from. She was too attached to it.

Even though it was killing her from the inside.

The pain passed, and Orihime tried to work on her breathing again. It was a lot easier now, to get it going again.

His fingers curled up, "How are you feeling?"

Orihime coughed and lay back down again, relaxing. She sighed, "Not too bad," she forced her mouth into a smile, "...just the breathing, but I'm fine."

_Of course you're not fine._

Ichigo gave a nod and closed his eyes, crossing his legs. He slumped over his own legs in a position that was very painful for his back. But he didn't care. He knew that it was only a fraction of what Orihime was feeling. Suffering was written all over her face.

"...Don't you regret anything?"

His question was sudden and forward, and she wasn't sure how to react. What was he implying?

"Huh?"

"I mean, why are you doing this? It's a hollow...it...it shouldn't be alive."

She blinked, and tried to process his words. "He's not just a hollow, he doesn't have to be a monster..."

"We don't know that," Ichigo said, closing his eyes, "just look what it's doing to you now. When it's here, well, I can't even guess what it'll do."

Orihime shuddered, "...I-if he...is going to act like a hollow, then...like I said, you can..."

When Ichigo over at her, she was sitting up. Her arms were wrapped around her torso and though her head was down, he could see the tears pouring down from her eyes.

He wasn't sure what to do then, he simply sat and looked at her.

"I'm sorry," she said shakily, "I know I said I'd let you...but he's just a baby, h-how much damage can he do?" Her eyes, still producing waterfalls, turned up at him, glistening.

Ichigo's eyes pulled his face into a look of concern, and he decided that he had to do something. He knew that he cared for her, and maybe, yes, he loved her. But how could he take that moment and comfort her?

Then she cried out, and clutched her stomach. Despite his lack of skill, Ichigo could sense it, the intense spiritual pressure radiating from her abdomen. He threw his arms around her and held her tightly.

A minute passed before Orihime stopped screaming. She resurfaced from the pain and realized that his strong arms were wrapped around her with wide eyes. Then she wasn't sure what to do.

When she tilted her head a little, she could feel his head on her shoulder. In the corner of her eye she could see that his were clamped shut. With nothing else to say, she murmured the short words, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he whispered.

Fresh tears fell over the ones that were just starting to dry as Orihime felt his grip of her loosen. She turned around to face him, and his hand touched her face.

There was a moment then. They sat, staring deeply into each others eyes. They spoke to each other, exactly what they were feeling, through their clouded orbs. Misery, hope, worry, depression, hurt and the need for light to break through the clouds hanging over their heads.

And then Ichigo's lips pressed lightly against hers. Suddenly, their world was spinning faster than their hearts were beating.

When they broke away from each other, Ichigo shuffled backwards a little with a look of guilt. Her fingers came up and touched her bottom lip, buzzing with traces of his reiatsu, then she looked at him, trying to figure out what had just happened and the reality of it all.

Then she saw his eyes, wide open, staring down at something.

Her vision followed his gaze, and she pointed her head at the floor. Her still-throbbing stomach was leaking crimson. It escaped from several long marks under her pyjamas.

Then her insides shifted, and her breathing pace sped up. She knew it was coming again.

Ichigo leapt up. "I'm sorry," he said quickly, "I'm going to get Urahara."

He ran out of the door before he could react to her next shriek of pain.

–

"Well she'll be okay, right?"

Ichigo was pacing outside the room she was staying in. A calm however concerned Yoruichi was leaning against the wall.

"Kisuke is checking it out still, but that's what he said to me. I'm not surprised," she said, "it's been difficult enough so far, it wouldn't be surprising to see the labour long and slow, not to mention painful."

He sunk down to his knees next to her and ran a hand through his hair, "What can I do? There's gotta be something."

She shook her head, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Not right now, kid. Just go home, we'll let you know if anything happens."

"Do you really expect me to leave her now?" he raised his voice.

"Yes, go away," she turned away from him, arms folded.

"Hey, I'm gonna stay here and watch over her, I don't care what you-"

Yoruichi turned around, and her golden eyes glowed at him, almost threatening. "Leave. You spend all your time here and you're acting all depressed and it's annoying. I know you want to protect her, but it's a little too late. We just have to wait and see what happens for now. Like I said, I'll let you know when something happens."

"But-"

"Just go, Ichigo. Go and relax somewhere, Orihime will need you when this is all over, you need to stay calm."

He seemed to be agreeing, until his gaze turned to a glare, "What about if when it's over, there is no Orihime to need me?"

"We're doing everything we can for her, and we're not planning to let go of her. It's her safety before it's-" -she stopped herself- "the child's life."

Her words pulled his temporary doubt to a close. Ichigo sighed and stormed out of the shop.

Only a few paces out of the front door, he froze. A scream echoed from the back of the building, and the doubt started to grow back. But he tried to tell himself that it was okay, that it'd be over soon.

In that moment, he only hoped that she would be okay. He wanted to look after her, but he wasn't sure what to do. Yoruichi's orders were all he could bring himself to do now.

Still, it took two minutes before he could continue.

Though his feet were carrying him back home, he was torn between his journey back home and the dying girl in the back of Urahara Shoten.

–

**10th chapter, woo!**

**I've just realized that I left this before I went on holiday, and that was so long ago. And to think, I said that I'd try to update once more before I left... :c**

**I feel bad now, to anyone who might care. I'm sorry, I got a bit stuck in the middle of this chapter, it was hard to carry on from. But I've taken a few shots at finishing this chapter in this past week and I'm glad it's finished now. It gets exciting from here on out...**

**Please review! A quicker update is guaranteed, plus I'll love you forever ;)**

**~HellYus**


	11. Concluding the Unknown

_**At the Hands of a Hollow**_

Chapter 11: Concluding the Unknown

_Previously: In that moment, he only hoped that she would be okay. He wanted to look after her, but he wasn't sure what to do. Yoruichi's orders were all he could bring himself to do now._

_Still, it took two minutes before he could continue._

_Though his feet were carrying him back home, he was torn between his journey back home and the dying girl in the back of Urahara Shoten._

Ichigo wasn't allowed back until Monday. Yoruichi told him to have one day without thinking about Orihime, but she was all he could think about. All he knew when he woke up was that she was alive.

It was early when he headed out, but he didn't care. He was sure that Orihime would be awake, what with the demon ripping it's way out of her and all. Now he had absolutely no sympathy for it.

It was a monster and it was killing her, just like he'd always thought.

"**Hurry up, King."**

_'Shut up.'_

He tried to filter out the hollow's comments, but some were floating so vividly around his mind that he couldn't completely ignore him. **"It's your fault that we didn't get to see her yesterday."**

_'Well none of this would be happening at all if you'd of just...not...raped her.'_

It was a weak attempt, but it kept him quiet.

Soon enough he was running. It was another few minutes before he skidded to a halt and pulled the door open. When he got to the door of the back room, a high-pitched squeal was just fading out.

Kisuke opened the door for him, and he stepped inside.

Yoruichi was sat closely by the pale, skinny wreck of a girl, wearing her suit of black fur to reduce the space she took up. Ichigo could see several machines surrounding her again.

"Ichigo, leave."

He looked at Urahara, "What?"

The man took of his hat and gave a slight smile, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. But could you humour me for just a second and step out of the room."

His eyes turned to Orihime in silent protest.

"She's not going anywhere, I just want to see something. Please."

Ichigo shrugged his shoulders and stepped back out, and closed the door. There he waited for a few seconds, unsure of what to do and completely clueless to the reason behind his motives.

"Okay, come back in!" he shouted again.

With a sigh, he let himself back into the room again.

"Remarkable..." Kisuke whispered to himself, staring at the biggest machine he could see.

"What's remarkable?"

He looked over to him, to Orihime, and back again. "The spiritual pressure decreased when you came in..."

"Maybe he's happy to hear your voice again," came a voice.

Ichigo turned around, and the girl was smiling at him. She had propped the very upper section of her body up on her elbows, and her face was just about visible behind the mound under her blanket. There was blood seeping though, in fact she was basically covered in it.

The worst part was the fact that it was her own.

"Yeah, sure..." he muttered, and sat down in the corner, not too close but not too far away from her.

He scowled at the bloody mound, which was still producing intense pressure that he couldn't ignore. Orihime was still wearing a smile, but he could see her pain. It was visibly present in the shadows under her eyes and the unstable shaking of her hands. "He says that he's very happy that you're here," she informed him.

Ichigo's stomach twisted and his eyes wandered to the ground. "So it still talks? I thought it'd be concentrating on ripping you to shreds..."

Yoruichi slipped out of the room quickly.

The glimmer of light in her eyes disappeared, but her smile didn't completely vanish. She brought her pale hands up to rest on the bump. He could see that they were covered in dry blood, and a new layer of crimson came into contact with them as she placed them on the stained blanket.

"He only speaks to me now, in my head. I don't know if he's strong enough to talk loudly, I think he's busy," she tried to keep up her recently half-re-discovered sense of cheeriness in her voice.

The door swung open and Yoruichi, clad in human clothes, entered with a pile of sheets. She walked over and placed them in the clear corner, and picked up a blanket.

"Looks like you could use a new one of these," she smiled.

Orihime began to say thank you, but froze. Her bony fingers clutched onto the blanket, leaving red hand prints over the few unaffected patches of blanket. The spiritual pressure doubled, leaving the air thick and dense. The metallic stench of blood became stronger, and Ichigo felt completely sick.

Kisuke started staring at a machine, as Yoruichi hurried to put down the pile of sheets. Nobody knew what to do for her, they waited. She started to breathe heavily but quietly.

Orihime pulled herself onto her elbows to re-position herself, and she winced as the blanket fell off. What Ichigo saw then made his eyes start to water.

Rips in her pyjamas showed the cracks in her stomach, the blood that ran all over her skin. The dangerous pressure could practically be seen flowing from the wounds, and even the scars left from the experience that caused the monster's existence.

He was weak. His limbs dropped, and his blank face found itself pointing towards the floor. Orihime trembled as she watched his reaction, carefully holding the blanket up to hide herself. Yoruichi took if away from her a laid a new blanket over her quickly. "Good luck, Ichigo..." she sighed, and took the old, bloodstained blanket away with her.

Orihime's fearful eyes watched him as his head turned back up to her. He stared desperately into her eyes.

She blinked, trying to figure him out. Then he tried to smile. It was almost awkward, a half genuine smile. But she studied his face for a second, and could see it in his eyes. He was trying to comfort her, despite being very uncomfortable himself.

That brought her own smile into play.

They both began to relax, calming down almost completely. Orihime wrapped herself up in the new blanket, and lay her head on the pillow so that she was directly facing him. "Shouldn't you be at school? It's a Monday," she pouted.

"What, and leave you here? I've not been allowed in for two days, I thought I was allowed to be here!" he grinned.

She was glad, more than anything, to see him like that way. It was the side of him that nobody ever really saw, but sometimes she was lucky, and he would let her into his heart for a while. Not many people could ever get that far.

He couldn't really understand it himself, it was strange that she could bring this side of his personality to the surface. It had been left completely untouched for years. And there she was, innocent and beautiful, enough to weaken any man's defence.

Then of course, she was so clumsy and absent-minded, she needed protection, and he was always more than willing to offer that to her. It was his job, though he had failed it several times. Sometimes it was just a little too far out of his reach.

But in their failure and their success, they always came out okay in the end. And it always made them stronger.

–

Nothing had really improved by the afternoon. It didn't speed up or slow down, it just got more painful for her. Orihime was reaching a stage which resembled the half-way point of an average human's labour, by terms of contraction frequency.

Ichigo did all he could for her, but there wasn't really a lot. He sat by her, and held her hand. And just when she was reaching her limit of coping with the pain, he would reassure her. The only problem was, he didn't know what was going to happen.

He felt bad about promising things that he thought of unlikely to happen. The truth was, he had little of an idea of how much damage it was causing to her.

In the late afternoon, in one moment of peace, Ichigo seized the opportunity to talk to Kisuke. As Orihime relaxed, he whispered to the Shinigami Shopkeeper, "Urahara, what do you think will happen?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, at the end of this. From what you can see now...do you think she'll be okay?"

The mysterious man smiled beneath his hat, "Well I'm sure it'll be fine. I can't give you an exact answer because we don't know how the delivery will go, but-"

Ichigo's eyes turned from curious to serious as he interrupted. "Will she survive it?"

Kisuke looked surprised for a moment, before his head tilted and his eyes became dark. "It's all I need to know," Ichigo said with an almost pleading tone.

"I think it's safe to say that she will survive, assuming the hollow doesn't completely rip it's own way out of her. We can't rely on this being more like a human birth, or else we'd be getting our hopes up. But anyway, yes, I think she will survive. And I'll do everything I can to make sure of it, but I'm not saying it's certain."

"Then that's fine..." he muttered, and turned back to Orihime, who had been pulled out of her day dream and was breathing heavily as the next contraction began.

–

Everyone was exhausted by the time the night came. At ten o'clock, everything seemed to be getting worse. Orihime had lost a lot of blood, nearly more than was safe. Ichigo's concern was increasing every second and it appeared that the odds really weren't in their favour.

Orihime was being watched by Ichigo and Yoruichi at this point. They were both working to make sure she was safe and comfortable, because if they hadn't, the pain would already have been too much to bear. The fifth and final day was drawing closer and closer and they didn't know what it would bring, other than a half hollow, half human child that had caused them all a lot of stress.

Her face was desperate and she was sweating more than ever, her auburn hair clinging to her face. Her body was prepared for a human delivery, but the hollow was trying to make it's own way out. It was too much for a girl of her age, within a few more hours, it would really be more than she could take.

During one of the longest and most painful contractions, she said to him, in between hurried breathing, "Ichigo... I can't... take... it's too much... so please... tell Tatsuki... and..."

He took both of her hands and looked her in the eye, "I can't tell her anything, you're going to have to, when this is all over. It can all be normal again..."

She started screaming as it violently ripped through her stomach again, leaking blood all over the place. "I can't... I..."

"Yes, you can. You have to, just breathe," he said to her, gritting his teeth through her bone-crushing grip on his hand. She nodded and tried her hardest to keep going. It lasted another minute, until she could finally throw her head back on the pillow and take that valuable space of time to rest.

The blood began to dry and another hour of contractions passed. Nothing was improving, it stayed exactly the same. Ichigo was helpless, all he could do was help her breathe and hold her hand. So when Kisuke entered the room, claiming to have good news, he was glad; even though there was nothing that _he_ could do.

"What? What is it?"

"I've asked a doctor that I know to come over here and see if he can help us out a little," Urahara said.

Ichigo scowled, "What are you, stupid? What the hell can a doctor do, it's a hollow! Sure, help Orihime, but good luck getting your doctor friend to understand hollows and all that crap."

"Trust me, I don't need the good luck here. I think you'll find it's Miss Inoue who would benefit from it," he said with a teasing grin.

"Fine, whatever..." he muttered and focused his attention on the pale, skinny, crimson-strained wreck letting out the blood-curdling screams, who had a monster clawing at her from inside.

–

In the last few minutes before midnight, the doctor showed up at the door, and Urahara went to bring him to the back room. Ichigo dreaded to think of what would happen next. The last thing they needed was a human doctor with no knowledge of what he was really doing.

He didn't really care that much, but it still mattered to him. So he was very shocked when his father walked into the room.

Ichigo stared at him with an unimpressed expression.

Isshin nodded his head towards him, "'Sup."

"Urahara, why the hell did you have to bring this clown here? He'll just mess everything up."

He said the words with the expectation of his father showing off his fake crying 'skills', but instead he saw the medical, serious side of his dad.

"It's fine if you don't want me here, son, but I'm actually here to keep your girlfriend alive, so if you'll excuse me..." he said with a slight smile, and sat at the foot of the futon.

Ichigo watched for a moment as his father pulled out a pair of gloves. "...What are you doing?"

"Checking the dilation," he said simply, "do you have a problem with that?"

"I don't know, what's dilation?"

"How far the cervix has moved."

"What's the cervix?"

"It's what's in between the vagina and uterus, it holds in the foetus and then opens-"

"Okay, okay! Too much information..."

"But you asked, son."

"Whatever..." he looked away quickly as he carried out his task.

He was pulling off his gloves when Ichigo turned around again. "It could actually be any minute now. What's the time?"

Urahara checked a clock, and replied. "Two minutes from midnight."

"And it's supposed to arrive tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"Then I'd expect it in a few minutes."

Isshin stood back up and left the room with Kisuke.

"Where are they going?"

Yoruichi spoke up then. "I would assume that they're leaving so that Orihime can deliver the child without the stress of having so many people in the room."

"Okay..."

He watched her snow-white face in it's temporary state of relaxation. She was in some kind of dream, or daze, and she looked so happy, that he was annoyed that it was supposed to come out at any time. It would ruin it all for her, but then, it already had. By just being there.

Several minutes passed with no contractions, she just lay there like that. It passed onto Tuesday, and the two people in the room were anxiously watching for the conclusion, the grand finale.

She woke up squealing four minutes into the day, with the foot of the hollow sticking out of her belly. Yoruichi leapt forward, and took the blanket off her completely. She was left in a pyjama shirt that had enough closed buttons to conceal her chest, but that was all.

Neither of them even cared, they were staring at the red hole in her stomach, with the slowly moving limb poking around at the top. "Get it out, now," Ichigo said.

"But which way would be easiest? There are still two options here..."

"I don't freaking care, just get the damn thing out! It's killing her!" he shouted. Yoruichi flinched at the increase of volume and nodded to herself. "I'm sorry, Orihime..."

Just at the right moment, it began to kick it's own way out. In seconds, it was in her reach, so Yoruichi pulled it out of her, detaching it from her, at last. The wriggling monster started to cry as it was wrapped up and taken out of the room.

There was a painful thumping in his chest as he stared at Orihime. Her body was limp and cold, still half-naked and torn apart. He felt sick, very sick.

His head dropped into his hands as he found that there was nothing he could do. The blood she amazingly still had drained it's way out of her and her grey eyes went clear.

Ichigo was losing control of his breathing, and he started to choke. "Ur...Urahara!" he yelled. Both the store owner and his father rushed into the room, starting to shout things at each other. Isshin began to check over her, while Kisuke starting chanting kido spells that Ichigo couldn't make sense of.

That was because he was losing his senses, falling into darkness. He reached out for her hand again, afraid that somebody would take her away. He sat there as his vision went blank, and he lost consciousness.

–

**Happy Hallowe'en! :P**

**I thought I'd update because I have nothing better to do tonight, really. I was expecting this chapter to be short at first, but then I decided to add Isshin in there for a little comedy (cos' the whole chapter is so serious...) and it was, well, longer.**

**Hope you like, anyway!**

**I've just realized I've spent about three hours here, writing the last half...oh dear. Good night, anyway!**

**Review, review, review, please! I will actually cry if there's not one, and I _wish _that was just a joke...**

**~HellYus**


	12. Reaching for the Light

_**At the Hands of a Hollow**_

Chapter 12: Reaching for the Light

_Previously: Ichigo was losing control of his breathing, and he started to choke. "Ur...Urahara!" he yelled. Both the store owner and his father rushed into the room, starting to shout things at each other. Isshin began to check over her, while Kisuke starting chanting kido spells that Ichigo couldn't make sense of._

_That was because he was losing his senses, falling into darkness. He reached out for her hand again, afraid that somebody would take her away. He sat there as his vision went blank, and he lost consciousness._

He was floating in the air. The world looked empty in his eyes. Nobody could reach him, and he couldn't move any part of his body. It was dark, and the light that could always keep him going when he was lost in a place like this had disappeared.

Time went on, not so quickly in reality, but it felt like a thousand years to him. He had lost everything he had, or so he thought. A monster ripped his happiness away from his world, just to satisfy itself.

It all seemed peaceful, but this world that he was in was his own guilt. He could have protected her, but in the end he had been so useless to her. It was as if it didn't matter how much stronger her got, or how many times he swore it, he just didn't have the power.

That monster took her away.

He couldn't reach his light.

And where was she know? He didn't know for sure, but he had a good enough idea. In this prison of mind, he couldn't hear anything but the name 'Orihime' being whispered every second.

Why was that all he could hear? Was anybody trying to get to him at all? Were they all ashamed? Occupied with their own lives and problems?

No, a new voice echoed through the darkness. He couldn't recognize it at first, but when it spoke again, his head started to hurt and his eyes started to open.

"Ichigo, are you planning to wake up any time soon?"

Somebody was poking at his face. As soon as his vision cleared up, he saw the face of Yoruichi. He groaned and rubbed his eyes. It was morning, there was light coming in through the small window at the top of the back wall.

Looking around for a moment, he knew the room. After all, he'd spent plenty of time there recently. It was the back room of Urahara Shoten.

"Come on, get up. The commotion's all over now," Yoruichi stood up and stretched her back.

"Wh-... Where are they?"

"Who?" she blinked.

"Urahara, my dad, and the hollow..."

Yoruichi smirked, "I'm quite surprised, I was expecting another name to come up."

He scowled, "Even if I asked about her, what difference w-"

"Wouldn't you like to see her?"

Ichigo's face lit up instantly, and his eyes burned with curiosity. "What did you say?"

"She's in the next room, sleeping, don't you want to see her?"

"Of course, but..."

"What?" she grinned.

"...How?"

"Please don't tell me you really thought we'd let her die," Yoruichi scoffed, "not Orihime Inoue."

In the back of his mind, the light flickered once again. It was weak, but it was there. He could see it, and it rushed back. His memories of her eyes, her smile, her innocent smiles and lines from the stories that only her imagination could produce.

Could he reach her now?

"It was difficult," Yoruichi said, "and we can't really say how long she'll need to rest. But she's perfectly stable, and she's been cleaned up and healed. It's just the blood loss and exhaustion that she needs to make up for. I think she'll be awake in a few days or so."

He sighed in relief, and pulled his legs from beneath him, eventually forcing himself up. "Where are the others then?"

Even after he'd gotten the answer he wanted, he couldn't help but wonder a little.

"Isshin went home after they finished last night, and I can only assume that Kisuke is sleeping somewhere now, too," she rolled her eyes, then her yellow gaze became serious, "and then the child..."

"Right..."

"The child is in the room next to Orihime's, also asleep."

"You're not expecting me to want to see it, are you?"

"Not exactly, but I don't expect you to just leave it be, either."

"Why?"

"Because I think you deserve to assess just how dangerous it is, should the time come when we'll have to make a decision."

Ichigo nodded, "Well, I want to see it now, anyway."

Yoruichi simply raised her eyebrow and folded her arms, "You're sure?"

He wasn't, really. But he wanted to see the creature that had caused all of this trouble, besides the hollow in his head. He nodded.

As he followed her to the room, he realized something.

_'You're being very quiet... I haven't heard you speak since we got here yesterday...'_

"**Well, I don't really feel like talking."**

He left it alone and entered the small room, tailing Yoruichi. The door closed behind him, and he stood to observe. She jumped out of the low, open window at the back.

"What the hell are you doing?"

She smiled, "I decided to leave you in here for a bit, whether you like it or not. But you're trapped in there, so do your 'assessments' now. I'm coming back in through the front, so I will be in there. If I hear you trying to hurt her, you'll be in trouble! Just remember how much she's meant to Orihime all along."

And with that, the closed the window and vanished.

Ichigo blinked, baffled by her sudden trick. It was unexpected, definitely. Was it for the better? Should he expect to come to terms with the child all alone?

Maybe he just needed to trust himself not to kill it. For Orihime.

He took a few steps forward. It was there, lying on a futon. He couldn't see it's face, it was wrapped up in several blankets.

Ichigo sat down and watched. As it sensed his presence, it started to wriggle around. Though his guard was up, he couldn't help but stare in amazement when it's face was revealed.

This baby did not look like it had been born in the past twenty four hours. It looked more like it was a month or two.

He thought back to what Yoruichi had said. 'She.'

Orihime was wrong, in the end. Would it make her change her mind? He sighed and shook his head to himself, she seemed to love the thing even though it was half hollow, so she probably wouldn't care that it wasn't the gender she thought it would be.

"_...I don't know, never mind. Why so certain with the 'he', anyway?" _

_She took a few seconds to calm down, and shrugged her shoulders, "I don't really know, it just feels like I should call it a he...I mean, a hollow is usually a 'he', right?". _

Just as he thought back to that moment, her eyes opened.

Something between yellow and orange, glowing orbs. But they weren't completely hollow, they just didn't look the same. Much more...human.

He was almost surprised to see that she looked so unlike a hollow. She was a baby, a real person. Despite her innocent face, she was a hollow, and he wouldn't let himself forget that part.

The eyes weren't giving in, either.

As he watched her very silently, it smacked him in the face. She was pretty cute, not that he'd seen many babies in his years. Her little amber eyes gazed up at him curiously.

Ichigo tried to pick out hollow-like features, as faults, reasons to change his mind about her cuteness. Obviously the eyes were first on the list, so vibrant and clear. But that was just the colour, the usual black eye ball found in a hollow hadn't shown here. Much more like human eyes, just very bright.

Then, her skin was quite pale. Not a ridiculous shade of white, but a gentle snowy complexion which was very elegant.

Lastly, she looked so much older than she was. Thick tufts of very light brown hair were already growing on the top of her head. He wasn't sure what else to expect from her. Still, that seemed to be all he could find.

Oh, and how could he forgot. She just ripped her way out of her own mother a few hours ago.

His face set into a scowl.

The little baby giggled at him. Ichigo's eyes widened as watched her, amazed. A smile had spread across her face, and she started waving her chubby arms about while speaking baby gibberish. He was confused as well as surprised.

What was he supposed to say he felt? Because whatever that was, something had changed. It was an indescribable feeling that brought on the question he'd tried to avoid before.

Was she partly his, too?

Sure, she was half human, but it came from Orihime. Perhaps if she continued to grow very quickly, he would be able to see anything she could of inherited from him.

Then, in the light from the window, he saw a slight orange tint at the edges of her hair, where the sunlight hit it. He sighed. That probably didn't mean anything. It was all hollow and Orihime.

But then, who really was to say that he hadn't contributed anything towards her. His hollow was a part of him, maybe it was his kid, but the hollow being active at the time had changed everything. Ichigo slammed his palms into his face and scowled at his own thoughts.

"Wuuah," the baby murmured.

He looked down to her again. She was watching him with those luminous eyes, wide with curiosity. That's what everything was about. Curiosity. What would she be? Who would she be? What was she capable of...

Ichigo sighed to himself and slowly reached out to move the blanket, so he could see her face more clearly. As soon as his outstretched finger came near her, she grabbed onto him.

He pulled it back quickly. "Ouwha," she pouted at him.

It was probably risky in some way, but her eyes drew him back in. The last thing he wanted was for her to cry, anyway. His hand hovered back over to her and she held his finger.

Her little face crinkled in concentration as she observed his hand. It was probably strange, in her eyes, about the size of her face, actually.

There was nothing else he could do. He was captivated and couldn't escape. As long as the little baby was holding onto his finger, he couldn't think about hurting her.

So maybe he had lost his sense too.

–

He closed the door as quietly as he could.

It was already dark outside. He'd managed to spend the whole day in there, watching over her. There wasn't really anything else to do, anyway. Yoruichi eventually came in to tell him he could leave the room.

When she asked about his evaluation of the baby, he said he needed more time.

Of course he did. She had only just been born, how much could he learn about her? Maybe her true nature would be more obvious as time went by, and not a lot of it. Even in the half-day he had been with her, something about her changed.

She grew even quicker than he ever could have thought. It gave him a headache, thinking that only twenty four hours after her birth she might appear to be four months old.

Yoruichi was waiting in the front of the shop for him.

"Dinner will be done in about ten minutes if you want to stay," she said as he walked into the room.

Ichigo sighed, "Thanks, but I think I'll head back."

"Oh, well then I'm surprised," she mused, "I thought you'd want to see Orihime."

The thought of seeing her had actually slipped his mind. Then he realized, somewhere deep down he didn't want to see what a skinny, pale, ripped up, scarred, sickly mess she could be now. It wasn't likely that she could have magically regained her previous state of health while sleeping, right after having the baby ripped out of her stomach.

"Not until I know she's stitched up again."

"Well she is, almost. Kisuke says he still needs to heal the deeper wounds. Perhaps by tomorrow she'll be in a better state..."

Ichigo nodded once and slid his hands into his pockets. After a few moments, he spoke. "I think I've just ended up confused about this whole thing."

"What do you mean?"

"The kid... she's, err... more normal than I expected."

A smile formed on her lips, "More normal than any of us expected, maybe excluding Orihime."

"I guess it's just cos' she's half human... but still, I'm glad we didn't have too much trouble."

"You mean, because she could have died?"

He turned to the man behind him. "Urahara," he muttered.

"I think you should be grateful, Ichigo," he said, "it could have been much worse. It's been a risky event, but here at the end we've got a whole new species of hollow."

"Well, hollow and human, it's not anything that amazing, right? If anything, the hollow would make it weaker than the average..."

Yoruichi walked over and ruffled his hair, "Actually, we've found out that she has the ability to become a shinigami. Kisuke read it in her spiritual pressure."

Ichigo blinked, "How? What does that mean?"

Kisuke elbowed him before following Yoruichi to the back of the shop, "It means that she technically has three parents, and you're one of them."

They disappeared just like that.

His heart rate increased as his mind twisted into a pile of questions. Sitting on top of all of that, though, was a collection of fragments of excitement, which seemed to grow in number with each knew addition to the heap below.

At the same time as all of that, his throat seemed to be closing in. Even if he tried, he couldn't speak. As he walked away from Urahara Shoten, when the hollow's voice echoed '**King?**', he couldn't find a word to reply with, anyway.

–

**I suck.**

**This is a terrible chapter, it's so slow and boring... but anyway, I'm hoping you'll like the fact that I updated anyway. Because I don't seem to do it very often, anyway...**

**Oh, and I think everyone has picked up on what the similar story I mentioned right at the beginning of this story is. Dunnn, yes. Somebody said it in a review once too...**

**Breaking Dawn! :P**

**I'm sorry, I know people don't like it. I don't really, it's like a love-hate relationship, me and the Twilight Saga. I've read all the books and I've seen all the movies, and I know how terrible it is! But leave me alone.**

**It's better not to ask questions, my mind is a strange place. **

**Anyways, reviews will be muchly appreciated! We're almost at 100, eek! (I've had a few PM reviews as well though!) Once we get there, I'll try my very best to update twice before the end of the year! So please, tell me what you thought about that l'il hollow baby!**

**~HellYus**


	13. Awaken

_**At the Hands of a Hollow**_

Chapter 13: Awaken

_Previously:_

_Kisuke elbowed him before following Yoruichi to the back of the shop, "It means that she technically has three parents, and you're one of them."_

_They disappeared just like that. _

_His heart rate increased as his mind twisted into a pile of questions. Sitting on top of all of that, though, was a collection of fragments of excitement, which seemed to grow in number with each knew addition to the heap below._

_At the same time as all of that, his throat seemed to be closing in. Even if he tried, he couldn't speak. As he walked away from Urahara Shoten, when the hollow's voice echoed '**King?**', he couldn't find a word to reply with, anyway._

Thursday came by quickly. As soon as he woke up in the morning, and started up his brain, he started thinking about time. Time didn't mean anything any more.

It was only a few weeks ago that everyone's problem began, only a few weeks ago that Orihime was raped by his inner hollow and became pregnant. It was just two days ago that a half-human, half-hollow child with three parents was born.

Born? Maybe that's one way to describe it. Despite Ichigo's newer feelings towards her, he still couldn't think of much but the way she ripped her own path out of her mother.

The next thing he needed was answers. Of course, Kisuke Urahara was probably already analysing the whole situation carefully. Building up from what he already knew.

Ichigo didn't really want to mess around thinking about it, but he couldn't help himself. It wasn't like he could just sit by and believe whatever they told him, either. It had to make sense, he wanted everything to be clear. Because all he'd had to work with for a long time before was a complicated mess.

There was another question too. What had happened to Orihime, really? They said she was recovering, but he wasn't sure what that meant. Was it like a coma, or just deep, slightly extended, regular sleep? He wouldn't know until he saw her, but he didn't want to.

Somewhere in the pits of his heart, he didn't want to see that girl, who he had come to love much and even more in the recent weeks, unless she was happy and healthy. After everything he'd seen, it was hard to imagine that the girl he used to know could switch back to her original state from the sickly, weak body she had been sporting for so long.

But still, he tried to have some faith in Urahara. He had been surprised by him a few times before, and he was more or less a reliable person. But how could he live with himself if it didn't work out? If she could never be the girl she used to be?

Then he thought about it. Of course she couldn't.

She was suddenly a mother, she had a baby. It was a monster baby, even though she had already started to prove herself to be safe enough. Life would be different, no matter what.

Would she return to school? Then where would the child go? How could they expect to treat her like a normal baby and show her off outside? She grew too quickly. She was just too different.

Orihime wouldn't know what to say. Could she give up her life as a human? Would she? There was a possibility, quite a strong one.

She was known for being kind and generous. After she saw the pregnancy that came from being raped by a hollow through to the very end, there was no way she could give up on her own daughter. That just wasn't who she was.

He began to think about it, just who exactly she was, or had been before. Orihime Inoue was his light. The way she acted, the way she looked and thought; it was all so bright. She had probably never done anything unkind in her life, not without perfectly clean reasoning.

She was beautiful, the kind that had every other girl in her school jealous. Unfortunately, it was also the kind of beauty that had the boys drooling all over her. But she had Ichigo for that, he would protect her.

Orihime was smart, she was always in the top fifty of her year group. Of course, there were moments were she seemed a little slow, but a girl with an imagination like hers, so vibrant and creative, couldn't pay attention to such boring matters of logic all the time.

She was quite clumsy, too... but she never let trips and short falls down a few stairs ever get her down, even if she landed on the floor. Her head was so hard that it could actually be described as a weapon.

When it came to it, she wasn't the best at fighting. But her heart and soul weren't intended for fighting, she hated to see anybody hurt. Again, he was there to protect her. He'd follow her anywhere just to keep her safe from the little blue men.

She could charm a demon to save a building full of people on fire, or convince a noble brat to feed the poor, and he wouldn't doubt that she could force the Head Captain of the Gotei 13 to keep an abandoned kitten as his pet! However, the most impressive thing she'd down by far was capture the heart of an orange-haired, misunderstood, changed and broken substitute shinigami.

–

"Hey," Ichigo muttered as he entered Urahara Shoten. Yoruichi was by the entrance, standing over Ururu, who was sweeping.

"We have some news," the woman leaning on the wall with crossed arms said with what was either a slight wink or an eyelid spasm.

"What's that?"

"Kisuke is sleeping," she grinned.

Then a two-minute staring competition began. After a thorough inspection, Ichigo glared at her with a ghostly dark look on his face. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"He's finished most of the main work around here."

"And?"

"Orihime is fully-healed and will probably wake up today."

Yoruichi watched the corners of his mouth twitching right up until he huffed a quick, "Well that's good."

She nodded and turned away from him, and began to walk away. "Where are you going?" Ichigo called after her.

"There's tea in here, I knew you were coming," she said.

He breathed a laugh, how he failed to detect something as simple as spiritual pressure amazed him. But he told himself he didn't care and followed her.

–

As they reached the third round of tea, the sun reached the top of the sky. They finished their conversation about hollows and how quickly each of them could kill one, Yoruichi brought up an important subject.

"I'm sure you've wondered about the child, what we're going to do with her."

"Well, obviously. Everything's gonna change now, and I have no idea how... but Orihime will decide most of this stuff, right?"

"Indeed, but as you take up half of the father position, you should have a say, too."

Ichigo blinked at her, wide-eyed. "I don't want to think about it yet, and anyway, we don't know what's going to happen next. If the kid turns out to be a vicious monster, none of this will have even mattered and Orihime will be upset."

Yoruichi reached up and stretched her arms, "And won't it affect you at all?" she said with closed eyes.

He slumped down and leaned on his own arm. "I'm not gonna answer that," he muttered.

Suggestive yellow and rather feline eyes opened and she snickered as her gaze followed his expression of annoyance. "That's fine, I think I can guess what the answer is..."

Ichigo set his face into a scowl as she stood up, "I'm going to get some food, it's about lunch now," she said.

He let out a "Mhhn," noise in reply and sat in silence. His eyes closed as he just relaxed. Silence wasn't a new thing to him, in fact, most of the time it was all he knew. Right from the moment his hollow got out on the first night, silence had followed everywhere.

It was in Orihime's secrets, after her confession, the realization, the next confession, too. It was in the slow days in which he'd sit by her side as she grew weaker and weaker. It was also in her face as the child exited her, and she turned into a broken statue. Then he lived in it as he shut himself off from everybody else, and waited in the darkness for his light to reappear.

Then he heard a door, and the silence was broken. Shuffling across the floor, and then a pause. Ichigo rose from his seat and went to the door. Who was out there? Jinta or Ururu? The door slowly started to slide open, and he waited. But he just wasn't sure what he was waiting for.

Then it was revealed, a delicate hand. Then a shoulder, covered by flowing locks of auburn hair, and then a clear gray eye. It sparkled as it saw him, but then the one who opened the door froze. Ichigo was left with just half a face. But he knew that face better than any other.

He took it upon himself to pull the door right open in one swift action, and then he met with the full form of the girl. Not the girl he'd had to grow used to seeing, the original one.

Her face twisted into a smile she couldn't control. Not her pale, hollow face. It was her colourful, innocent face, full of emotion. And the rest of her was just as relieving to see. Her ridiculously skinny body had filled out to it's original size, with help of course. The bulge at her abdomen had finally gone, and she was herself again.

Neither of them said a word to the other, they simply wore stupid grins and slid into an embrace. Her wobbly knees pulled them both to the ground, but still they held on. Their arms were so tightly wrapped it was as if they would lose each other forever if they let go.

They stayed and closed their eyes. Peace had returned in a way, but everything was still changing. They saw things clearly, he gathered her love as she clung to him, just as he gave her what she'd been dreaming of in his arms. And just to make it clear, he moved his head backwards and gently pressed his lips to hers. No words were even needed.

–

After Ichigo and Yoruichi had forced some food into her, they sat down with some more tea. The levels of peace and tranquillity rapidly rose as they lounged about at the table.

Orihime barely said a word, and she actually seemed quite anxious. Though the three of them had been talking, she hadn't contributed much towards the conversation.

"Orihime," Ichigo watched her intently, "are you okay?"

She snapped out of a day dream and pointed her gaze directly at him, "Y-yes! I'm fine! I just... feel... different, I think."

"How so?" Yoruichi asked her.

"Uhh," she began, "well I know I must look different now, or an improvement on before... when I w-was..."

"Carrying the child," Yoruichi smirked.

"Yes, w-well that's what I'm trying to say..." she sighed, one hand coming up to scratch her head, "t-the child... where... where is he?"

"'She', actually," Ichigo said with a smile.

"Really?" Orihime asked with bright eyes. She started to vibrate a little, and then swallowed her excitement into a pleasant smile. "You don't sound so disapproving of her any more," she commented happily.

He shrugged, "Things have changed a little, I'm not... too worried about it now. But I guess we'll just have to wait and see..."

"Right..." she said, "what day is it?"

"Uh, Thursday, I think..."

"Why aren't you at school?" she asked quickly, with a worried look drizzled in her enchanting gray eyes. He should have guessed that she wouldn't like this.

"I decided I didn't want to sit around in a class room, not while you're here and definitely not while you're awake," Ichigo protested, "and my attendance was never perfect, so I'm sure they're used to it."

Orihime looked quite dazed, exhaling with a short smile to herself. "Please promise me you'll go back soon, though. I don't want you to miss anything important. Maybe I'll return again, too... or..."

"...Yes?" he urged her.

"I-I guess not, I can't go when I have... uh, nameless..." she said.

"Nameless, that's a point..." Ichigo mused.

Orihime's eyes flickered between Ichigo and Yoruichi, until she whispered in a mouse-like voice, "Will I b-be able to see... her?"

Both of them smiled. "Of course."

She nodded her head and fell into her own imagination, wondering as she clambered onto her feet. Due to all of the resting, she was wearing yellow pyjamas. As soon as she realized, her cheeks flushed, and she stepped out into the hallway quickly, with Ichigo tailing her.

He led her to the door of the room containing the hollow-human hybrid child. She stared at the door nervously, as if she was waiting for it to open and for a monster to jump out.

Well, he couldn't tell her that wouldn't happen, because really, he didn't know that.

Orihime took a deep breath and slid the door open slowly. Ichigo stood behind her, waiting with curiosity. He wondered if he should let her have her first real moment with the child alone...

As soon as he stopped, she turned around and took his hand, leading them both inside the room. Then sat at the foot of the futon where she lay. Orihime watched her with wide eyes, along with Ichigo. He silently thought she looked like a little girl, endlessly appreciate of a new toy.

The baby's eyes opened, and Orihime started gradually leaned over her daughter, taking in everything about her. "So you're the one I've been fighting for," she giggled through the school of tears at her eyes.

Ichigo could hardly keep his grin back as she lifted the gurgling baby into her arms. The way she looked down at the little person she was obviously proud to have made, it told him that she was a mother.

With that, many things were bound to change. The one person she'd love more than anyone else in the world was that baby, and he felt strangely happy to think that. He reminded himself that he must be a father, too. But he didn't really feel like it. What he was focusing on here was Orihime, not the baby.

But as he watched her singing softly to the bundle of blankets, he thought that there was no way that he could stop himself from coming to love the child. If she could fight, even in the state she had been in, he would commit to protecting them.

"I'll fight for you," he whispered to her, "both of you, I won't let you go..."

She looked up at him, with that goofy look on her face. The look that told him she couldn't be any happier. "Thank you," she replied through her graceful tears.

And their lips met again.

–

**I still suck.**

**Really, truly, honestly I tried to finish this before we got into 2013, but I had a bit of a writer's block. I just suck. So I tried to make it up to you in fluff.**

**But then, this isn't the longest chapter I've ever written... but over four pages, and that's average for me. I hope you like it anyway, and you'd better be glad to have our Hime back to normal~ ;)**

**Review, review, review~ I don't deserve it, but I need it! So pleeease~? :3**

**~HellYus**


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